Easter Bunny History
To some, Easter is a serious religious holiday. To others, it’s a celebration of the end of winter and of renewal and beginnings. To others, it’s both – but to children, it’s often about a chocolate Easter bunny gift, colored eggs, and other sweet surprises.
It’s fairly well known that Easter is a blend of many different traditions from many different cultures. The Easter Bunny is certainly one of most prominent icon of the holiday, and actually has some very interesting origins.
Both the egg and rabbits and hares have been fertility symbols from ancient times. As prolific breeders, it’s small wonder these animals became symbolic of fertility and rebirth associated with the earth after a long, hard winter.
Early German immigrants to the U.S., who brought many of their old country traditions with them (the Christmas tree was one of them). “Pennsylvania Dutch” parents would entertain their children with tales of the Osterhase, or “Easter hare.” Like Sinterklaas at Christmas, the Osterhase visits during the night and leaves Easter gifts – including colored eggs – for well-behaved children. To this day, some children leave carrots out for the Easter Hare, much as they leave out milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
For such a fluffy and gentle creature, the Easter Bunny stirs up a fair amount of controversy, both in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., some groups in a well-meaning attempt to maintain a wall of separation between religion and secular life and be more inclusive to