placate Teutonic people who still wanted to observe the pagan fertility ritual, but were willing to recognize the Christian resurrection at the same time.
The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is the colorful and friendly rabbit that brings gifts, including decorated eggs and candy, on the night before Easter Sunday. While the true origin of the Easter Bunny is open to debate, one popular theory is that a man named Oschter Haws left colorful eggs for good children in the 18th century. This, in turn, led to Easter egg hunts.
The rabbit, a long-time symbol of fertility and spring, is a natural choice to be used for Easter decorating. There are cute stuffed bunnies, rabbit figurines, bunny coloring pages, and lots of other items with a rabbit theme. The Easter Bunny is a friendly symbol of spring, popular among children for hundreds of years.
The Easter Eggs
Spring is a time of renewal. New life and new growth are powerful themes. In addition to the aforementioned Easter Bunny, eggs are another important symbol of Easter. Easter eggs are the most used decoration for the occasion, but tiny baby chicks or plush ducks are also popular.
The egg tradition is not strictly related to the pagan celebration, but has ties to Christianity as well. It is said that when Jesus was on the cross, there were eggs at the base of the cross which were stained red with the blood of Christ. This is the presumed origin of painting eggs red, or other colors. Many Christians follow a tradition of praising the resurrection of Christ over the painted eggs.
Today, we paint the Easter eggs many different colors, even including pastel, multi-colored eggs. The tradition of