Where Did the Easter Bunny Come From?

Have you ever wondered where the Easter Bunny came from? Since I was a kid, the Easter Bunny always brought me candy and colored eggs. As an adult, I have passed on the same traditions to my children, adding an Easter egg hunt to the morning festivities. Now, after 32 years of my life, I am just now finding out where the Easter Bunny originated from.

In the Pagan era, there was a mythological Springtime Godess named Eastre. Eastre was the goddess of springtime and fertility and the sacred rabbit stood for.fertility and rebirth. Eggs as well are associated with springtime and rebirth and have been used for several centuries dating back to the Greek and Roman times. Not until the early 1800s did Easter, the rabbit, and the eggs show light. It was Germany that introduced the concept of the Easter Bunny delivering colored eggs to children, and it wasn't until German migrants came to the United States did it become a tradition here as well.

The concept of the Easter Bunny and colored eggs vary from country to country. Greece for example use the crimson colored eggs to honor the blood of Christ and Austria uses green eggs to represent Holy Thursday. Some traditions of the colored eggs revolve around giving specific colored eggs to a particular person. Some traditions don't use hard boiled eggs, instead the eggs are drained and hollow eggs are decorated.

Whether you believe in the Easter Bunny or the significance of the Christian faith, the Easter Bunny will live on in family traditions across the world. This Easter, families across the US will be celebrating Easter with the Easter bunny bringing the children candy and eggs, but not all family traditions of Easter revolve around the church and Christ, but have family festivities, like an Easter dinner. Each family adopts their own traditions, and my family is no different. The day before Easter, my kids color their hard boiled eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide along with their plastic eggs filled with candies on Sunday morning. Just like Christmas, we wake up early to search for a cool designed Easter basket filled with chocolate rabbits, and go on a Easter egg hunt in the backyard if it is warm outside or around the house if it is cold outside. Although my children are starting to grow up and have an idea that the Easter Bunny is mom and dad, they still get excited to wonder if there really is an Easter Bunny.

Sources:

http://www.holidays.net/easter/origins.htm

http://www.holidays.net/easter/bunnyeggs.htm

http://www.holidays.net/easter/eggs.htm