easter bunny?

Question

how did the whole idea of the easter bunny come about, its perplexed me for a while.

i mean really, easter is supposed to be the day jesus rose from the grave. so why does the holiday involve a bunny that runs around hiding eggs for little children to find. whats the thinking behind an idea like that? rabbits dont even lay eggs...

and for that matter, is the easter bunny supposed to be male or female...

fertility rites isnt much of an explanation...

Answer 1

Fertility rites. All societies celebrate the rebirth of the earth in the spring. Births are happening everywhere, lambs, rabbits and eggs of all kinds, plants are sprouting and life abounds.
Eggs and rabbits are both fertility symbols and the lovely spring colors from all the flowers. Combining them in to fertility festivals seems natural and eating lamb like a spring Thanksgiving.
Christians tried to wipe out traditional holidays so took many of the parts in their celebrations hoping people would forget the regular ones.

Answer 2

On the first day of Spring the bunnies come out.
Eggs is just a pagan belief that the egg, like Spring represents the renewal of life, such as Spring, newborn babies, and the moon phase.

Good Friday came on the Friday after the first full moon that came after the first day of Spring.

People weren't sure whether it was March or April this had happened, they were only sure that it was on Friday after the first full moon that came after the first day of Spring.

Chocolate eggs and other goodies is just fun to celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection.

Answer 3

The Easter Bunny probably came from people wanting two Santas. So that's why he's here. Easter Bunny is definetly a male, also known as a boy.

Answer 4

so that people forget about Jesus and all that good stuff :(
I even saw at the store, that the Easter egg coloring sets don't even say Easter anymore, now they just say 'spring eggs'

The Bunny is neither male nor female

Answer 5

It's not just the bunny, what about the coloured eggs?
We have to go back a long way to explain it.
In 605BC the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzer, defeated Jerusalem in war.
Many of our precious Jewish brethren were taken into captivity to Babylon (now known as Iran). They were in Babylon for 70 Years.
This was the time of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
(the last 3 you may know as Shadrach, Meshach &Abednego).
We must all realize that any culture that is transfured into
a completely foreign society, will eventually. take unto them-
selves, the new society's traditions even tho they never believe in the religion of that country.
The Babylonians worshipped their fertility god, Ashtar.
The Babylonian women, whom wanted to conceive a
child, would decorate eggs (the symbol of fertility).
The men would hide the eggs, the women would hunt
the eggs, any woman finding an egg would offer it up
to their god Ashtar, in return for her offering, she was to
have a baby that year. (Some birth control -- just throw
away the egg)
Because the rabbit was also a symbol of fertility, they
would bring alot of them in to hop around the hopeful women.
This pegan holiday was held about the same time as
Passover, as a result many of their customs got mixed with the Jewish ones over this 70 year period.
.As for the name Ashtar, over the centuries and by different
dialects, the name was changed to be pronounced Easter.
As you can see this is a totally pegan name and should not
be used in conjuncion with our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus was crucified on Passover, was buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and was resurected on
the Feast of First Fruits.
Our Lord has nothing to do with Easter, the pegan holiday,
but has everything to do with Resurection Sunday or First
Fruits Sunday, because He lives!
Sorry there just wasn' a short answer to this one.