The Reason for the Easter Bunny

Easter is often a puzzling sort of holiday. As it is a religious holiday for Christians, it celebrates the death and rebirth of Jesus Christ. However, the icon of this holiday is not Jesus, as it is for Christmas (along with Santa Claus). Rather, a large rabbit delivering and hiding eggs for children throughout the world is the popular symbol for Easter. Looking through the Bible and other teachings, there is no mention of such a creature, so it is odd that a rabbit is the icon for this holiday. However, when you take a look at the history of Easter and putting it in perspective with another Spring time holiday, the existence of the Easter Bunny makes more sense.

The story of life and rebirth, which is the focus of Easter, is a story that has been around since religious traditions began. One of the goddess of life, Ostara, from the Saxon pantheon, was a fertility goddess and the start of Spring was the time that her followers celebrated. The rabbit, which was well known for it's ability to quickly reproduce, became her symbolic holy animal. The egg became an item associated with Ostara because of two reasons. The first reason is that the egg would produce a baby chick, which is an excellent representation of rebirth. Also, the egg has the shape of another popular symbol; that of infinity. It is a circle that has no beginning and no end, being the perfect representation of life and rebirth.

As Christianity was growing in popularity, the Church chose to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus at the same time as the fertility celebrations of Ostara. By going ahead and doing this, the Church would be able to go ahead and convert the pagan followers to their religion. They would point out that the celebration of fertility and rebirth was sinful and that by believing in the death and rebirth of Jesus, anyone would be able to enjoy the pleasure of the afterlife in Heaven. As a matter of fact, according to Goddessgift.com, the popular Easter egg hunts came about in part because of Christian discrimination. The pagans who believed in Ostara would hide eggs, and gather the local children of their town, encouraging them to find where the eggs were hidden. Church officials would then either follow the children, or try to bribe them to find out what properties held the eggs and prosecute the heathens for their beliefs.

Although Easter is to be a time of celebrating the life and death of Jesus, the existence of the Easter Bunny has often confused many people as to how a rabbit can be associated with Easter. However, looking at the history of how the holiday came to be, and understanding the focus on rebirth and life, the association of the rabbit with Easter becomes much more understandable. Once an item of pagan worship, the Easter Bunny has become an item of the newest modern religion - commercialism.