How did it come that the theme to Easter is a bunny and colored chicken eggs?

Question

what does a bunny and chicken eggs have to do with each other?

Answer 1

Christianity absorbed/"adopted" all kinds of Pagan practices, largely to make Christianity more palatable and, hence, to increase the number of converts it could attract.

Easter has its roots in a celebration of Spring and fertility honoring the Goddess Eostre (Ostara), and rabbits and eggs were a part of that celebration. The rabbit was one of Eostre's symbols, representing fertility. The egg is a universal symbol of fertility and rebirth -- I don't think the origins of that symbolism are even known, they go so far back.

Ostara is celebrated at the vernal equinox. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the vernal equinox.

Answer 2

The Germans had the persons concept of a rabbit Ocshter Haws who replace into believed to place colored eggs for stable little ones. They presented this theory with them to u . s . the region it more suitable into the Easter Bunny. The bunny replace into an broadly used image of spring and fertility and alter right into a sacred animal to the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eoster. Eggs even have been longtime a emblem of cutting-edge life. Easter itself is on the spring equinox so this is rather organic and organic a majority of those themes might desire to integrate mutually merely with the help of certainty that they are characterize the regeneration of life featuring spring.

Answer 3

The Germans had the folk belief of a rabbit Ocshter Haws who was believed to lay colored eggs for good children. They brought this belief with them to America where it evolved into the Easter Bunny.

The bunny was a longtime symbol of spring and fertility and was a sacred animal to the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, Eoster.

Eggs also were longtime a symbol of new life.

Easter itself is on the spring equinox so it's only natural all these themes should combine together since they are represent the regeneration of life that comes with spring.

Answer 4

Most people on here have it right that they are fertility symbols, but there's more. The egg is also symbolic of the moon, another symbol of Eostre (the goddess in question). Some cultures see a rabbit in the moon instead of a face - the Japanese describe it as a rabbit making rice candies. So there's one association. Also, there is a legend that once Eostre turned a rabbit into a bird for a time to amuse some children, and when she turned it back it continued to lay eggs for a short time.

Answer 5

Bunnies and colored eggs are fertility symbols adopted from Paganism. The encyclopedia Britannica states, " At Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient Pagan survivals- in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit." The word Easter can trace it's roots to the Chaldean origin and comes from the goddess known as in the Christian bible as Astarte. Who was known as Ishtar in pre-Christian Mesopotamian her name was pronounced Easter by the people of Nineveh. These symbols have nothing to do with Christ. They were adopted by Christianity to make it look more attractive to Pagans in hopes they would convert.

Source(s):

Encyclopaedia Britannica 15th eddition, Macropaedia, Vol. 4 p. 605, "church year"

Answer 6

It's spring, and the Easter holiday is always celebrated on a different date, because it has to be after the first day of Spring and a full moon. So Bunnies and chicks and sheep and all of the other Easter animals are more a symbol of Spring than of the religious celebration of Easter. Eggs are a symbol of new birth, just as Jesus was ressurrected = new birth.

Answer 7

Bunny:

"The beloved Easter bunny was the sidekick of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, whose festival was held at the vernal equinox. The hare was a symbol of fertility."

Eggs:

"In Christian times the egg had bestowed upon it a religious interpretation, becoming a symbol of the rock tomb out of which Christ emerged to the new life of His Resurrection. There was in addition a very practical reason for making the egg a special sign of Easter joy since it used to be one of the foods that was forbidden in Lent. The faithful from early times painted Easter eggs in gay colors, had them blessed, ate them, and gave them to friends as Easter gifts."

The links for these are below!

Answer 8

I'm not sure what the bunny has to do with it. But I read somewhere once that the tradition of dying the eggs came from....an egg meaning new life, and they were dyed red to represent the blood of Jesus.

In later years more colors were added and people started hiding them. I don't know. It's fun for the kids.

Answer 9

I saw a special about this once....

Something about the rabbit/hare being a symbol of some pagan spring/fertility goddess, and the powers that be (or were) trying to blend the pagan and Christian traditions for more wide-spread appeal...

I don't remember where or why the eggs came in, though. Sorry.

I have a question for you... how did chocolate get involved?

Answer 10

The rabbit and the eggs have to do with the pagan holiday for which Easter is named. as I understand it, the pagan celebration was a celebration of spring and of renewal of the earth and rabbits and eggs represented those ideas. When Christians came along with a new celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, in England, they took the name and the traditions of the pagan holiday and merged them into the celebration of the resurrection.