Why Does Easter Have Eggs and Bunnies?

Each year around April, stores are filled with pastel-colored décor, jelly-bean-filled plastic eggs and, of course, rabbit-themed everything. 

Easter marks the unofficial start of spring in the northern hemisphere, as well as marking religious celebrations. But how did the rabbits get involved in this holiday? And where do they get the eggs? 

Here’s a (very) brief glimpse into what molded this religious holiday into one filled with rabbits, eggs, flowers and candy.

Origins of Easter traditions

The celebration of Easter was originally celebrated (and is still celebrated by Eastern European communities) as Pascha, a name derived from the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic words for the Passover festival in the Jewish religion. Early Christians celebrated Pascha to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus as told in the Christian Bible, and the name for Passover came to also refer to the resurrection celebration as the early church grew in the first and second centuries. 

As the church grew and expanded across Eurasia and Europe, celebrations and traditions changed and evolved with new cultures, languages and communities. The religious season grew to include celebrations both before and after Pascha, and different nations included their own culturally significant traditions into the festival season. 

Fast-forward to today, and Easter celebrated in the United States looks vastly different than how it was celebrated nearly two thousand years ago. There’s been two millenia’s worth of cultural influence on the major holiday, not to mention the significance that the church’s own history has played. 

But let’s focus on some of the symbolism behind modern-day Easter celebrations here in the United States, and figure out where they originated and why they’re a part of the commercial Easter celebrations today! Like, for example, how an egg-delivering rabbit came to symbolize the spring season around Easter.

Where did Easter bunnies and Easter eggs come from?

Now, despite having its roots in Christian observances, the Easter rabbit and its bountiful gifts don’t appear anywhere in the original celebration festivities. Just like with many holidays and celebrations we have today — like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day, for example — people blended religious holidays with local beliefs to create new traditions that allowed communities to celebrate in ways that had greater personal and cultural significance to them. 

Where did the name “Easter” come from?

The celebration of Easter nowadays is tied to the arrival of spring, and fresh flowers, pastel colors, baby chicks and daffodils cover Easter memorabilia all over the country during the Easter season. 

Cultures in ancient times also celebrated the arrival of spring, usually with festivals and feasts that honored pagan deities. Ancient Greeks had Persephone, the goddess of Spring growth. Brigid, Celtic Goddess of Fire, was celebrated in early February to mark the return of the light and the beginning of Spring. Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, as were the Greek Hora. Ancient Slavics venerated Jaryło, who was the god of springtime, fertility and vegetation. Here in North America, Native American people had legends and stories of the seasons and their origins, like Morityama, the God of Spring, or Sig-Wan of the Algonquin. Norse people had Freyja, a goddess associated with fertility. 

In West-Germanic regions, people revered the goddess Ēostre, after whom they named the spring month. Eighth-century monk Saint Bede wrote that the month of Pascha was locally known as Ēosturmōnaþ (“Month of Ēostre” in Old English), and that it was a time for pagan festivals and feasts celebrating the arrival of spring. The Month of Ēostre became associated with the celebration of Christian Pascha, as did the association with new life, fertility and the arrival of Spring. Eventually, the name evolved to Easter. 

Easter eggs

Eggs have long been held as a symbol of fertility and life and death. Decorated ostrich eggs have been found dating back nearly 60,000 years ago in various regions around the continent of Africa, and ancient Egyptians and Sumerians were burying golden eggs in tombs as recently as 3,000 B.C.  

Early Christians dyed eggs red to symbolize the crucifixion around Easter, and as the religion spread, so did the practice. Eggs were a forbidden food during medieval celebrations of Lent, which preceded the Easter celebration, so people would paint and decorate eggs to mark the end of the fasting period.  

The Easter bunny

Though there is no hard evidence of where the furry creature first entered the religious celebration, there is evidence linking the hare to the goddess Ēostre and her fertility.

The rabbit, thanks to its penchant for multiplying so quickly, is a symbol of fertility in ancient European lore, so it was often associated with the goddess Freyja and, many believe, with Ēostre. Medieval churches saw the rabbit as a symbol of fertility, too, though it was associated with the Virgin Mary rather than pagan goddesses. 

The story of the Easter bunny originated among German Protestants in the 17th century, when a children’s storybook mentioned an Easter Hare bringing eggs to good children. This rabbit was, and still is, called Osterhase, and this magical hare would lay colored eggs the night before Easter for children to find. The tradition soon expanded to include candies and chocolates, and baskets were left as nests for the rabbit to leave its treasures in. 

The making of modern Easter

As German immigrants arrived in the United States in the early 18th century, they brought with them the stories and traditions associated with Easter. This included the practice of decorating eggs and telling tales of the Easter Hare, which evolved into the Easter Bunny and candy-filled eggs. 

Today, Easter is the second-best holiday for candy sales in the United States after Halloween, and the Easter Bunny brings about a slew of candies, eggs, gifts and more on Easter morning. Egg hunts are popular all over the country, and the spring-themed décor is the unofficial mark of the start of the season. 

From decorated eggs found in the Kalahari Desert to the Easter celebrations we have today, there have been thousands of years’ worth of cultural influence, religious celebrations and historical events which have contributed to the Easter we celebrate today. Who knew?!

Enjoy!

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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/stux