should the Easter bunny and the egg hunt play any role in today's celebration of Easter?

Question

i dont feel that they have any place in the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ, many people i know have Easter egg hunts for there children, why? shouldn't emphasis be on the religious aspects of the holiday?

Answer 1

Well, in a religious perspective, no they probably shouldn't be practiced. However, in a general societal view...well, it's a "hallmark" of the holiday. It's a means to cash in on bunnies, eggs, baskets, and (most importantly) candy. Bunnies & eggs for Easter have no relevance to Christianity at all - they're both pagan customs, in celebration of fertility & the spring equinox. The easter bunny & egg hunts are now just fun ways for children to enjoy the holiday, just like classroom Valentines trading, dressing up for Halloween, and even the Christmas tree & present exchange.

Answer 2

The Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs are just another example of the church in Europe during the middle ages adding pagan stuff to Christian holidays to make it more appealing to the locals. Easter falls near the vernal equinox -- the first day of spring. Pagans celbrated the time of new life and new fertility, with symbols of rabbits and eggs.

By now it's been so entrenched in the traditon of Easter that most peple don't recogonize the pagan undertones, or even care. Easter egg hunts now are just fun things for the kids to do. Kids like to find stuff and get candy. It's not some worship service to a pagan God.

Why isn't more emphasis on the religious aspect of the holiday in the general public? Because it's not "politically correct." You can mention God in public all you want, but as soon as you say Jesus people run away shouting "I'm offended. I'm offended." To be more inclusive this Christian holiday is santized of all references to Christianity.

1 Corinthians 8 gives us some guidance in this matter. If your faith doesn't allow you to eat chocolate rabbits or hunt Easter eggs, okay. If you can't do these things with a clear conscience, than it is sin, but only because you violated your conscience. If you can do these things with a clear conscience, that's fine too. An idol has no power over you.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. -- 1 Corinthians 10:31

Answer 3

Why no longer it in basic terms for the youngsters! besides the actuality that it is not a factor of Easter! you're able to do what ever you prefer its no longer a criminal offense to pass Easter egg searching! yet you do no longer would desire to have a Easter egg hunt ether! i think of it became stooped to band the Easter bunny at department stores! right it incredibly is why we've the bunny and chicks for Easter: It because of the fact Easter is new existence and so is spring! God ascended in to Heaven! Heaven is new existence!

Answer 4

Dear Gods, where do you people live?! Easter has nothing to do with jesus at all!
Easter is a MUCH, MUCH older celebration of spring equinox and fertility.

Nowhere in the Bible does it celebrate or even mention Easter. The name Easter derived from the Saxon goddess Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). The ancient Saxons in Northern Europe worshiped the Goddess Eastre at the time of the Spring Equinox. The Goddess Eastre represents the sunrise, spring-time and fertility, the renewal of life after the winter.

Pagan Anglo-Saxons made offerings of colored eggs to her at the Vernal Equinox. They placed them at graves especially, probably as a charm of rebirth. (Egyptians and Greeks were also known to place eggs at gravesites).

Only later did the Christians take the name for themselves and incorporate their religion onto a pagan celebration, because they couldn't uproot the pagan celebrations that took place at the same time as their own celebrations.
Since the pagan celebrations were about rebirth of life after the long winter sleep, it was so much easier for christians to incorporate the rites into their own resurrection context.

And now about the rabbit (or, more accurately, the hare) and the eggs:
It is from the mythological tale of Eostre that we celebrate the Easter Bunny. In the legend, the little rabbit wanted to give the Goddess of Spring a gift, so it gathered eggs in her honour, decorated them and humbly presented them to her. She delighted in the rabbit's willingness to give and wanted all of humanity to share in her happiness. To honour her wishes the rabbit distributes the lovely painted eggs throughout the world as symbols of the gift of life.

Both the egg and the hare are powerful fertility simbols and something that occurs at this time of spring. Rabbits mate, birds have eggs. Decorating the eggs and using the symbol of the hare (rabbit), was the ancient pagans' plea for good luck, fertility of the fields, prosperity and abundance.

Answer 5

I'm with Ymmo!
Easter (Ostara) is a fertility rite.
Eggs and Rabbits are fertility symbols.
They feature heavily in my Ostara celebrations, and I am quite glad the Christians are happy to celebrate with the Pagans in the Pagan way.
If it weren't for the number of Xtians that like chocolate, our Pagan heritage would only be preserved by us, and we are grossly outnumbered at the moment.

Answer 6

I think you've got it a little bit backwards. I think we should hunt the Easter Bunny instead. :-) Check out my tribute to the Easter Bunny at the first link below.

Answer 7

The meaning got mixed up. But in the first place, we created Easter. Back then, it was just the day Jesus resurrected. We commemorate it everyday, not just on Easter.

Anyway, I think it's fun. (called 'celebration')

Answer 8

Unfortunately, this is another religious event that has got caught up in commercialism like Halloween and Christmas. It has become a holiday celebrated not just by the religion that created them.