Easter Bunny
Encyclopedia
The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit (sometimes Spring Bunny in the U.S.) is a character depicted as a rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
bringing Easter egg
Easter egg
Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...
s, who sometimes is depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature brings baskets filled with colored eggs, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Father Christmas
Father Christmas
Father Christmas is the name used in many English-speaking countries for a figure associated with Christmas. A similar figure with the same name exists in several other countries, including France , Spain , Brazil , Portugal , Italy , Armenia , India...
, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. It was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Frankenau
Georg Franck von Franckenau
Georg Franck von Franckenau was a German physician and botanist.- Life :Georg Franck studied medicine and anatomy in Strasbourg, he received his M.D. in 1666....
's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) referring to an Alsace tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs.
Rabbits and hares
Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertilityFertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
symbols of antiquity
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
. Since bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. Female hares can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first. This phenomenon is known as superfetation
Superfetation
Superfetation is the simultaneous occurrence of more than one stage of developing embryo in the same animal. In mammals it manifests as the formation of a fetus from a different menstrual cycle while another embryo is already present in the uterus...
. Lagomorphs
Lagomorpha
The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families, the Leporidae , and the Ochotonidae...
mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the saying, "to breed like bunnies"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
.
Eggs
The precise origin of the ancient custom of coloring eggs is not known, although evidently the blooming of many flowers in spring coincides with the use of the fertility symbol of eggs—and eggs boiled with some flowers change their color, bringing the spring into the homes. Many Christians of the Eastern Orthodox ChurchEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
to this day typically dye their Easter egg
Easter egg
Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans...
s red, the color of blood, in recognition of the blood of the sacrificed Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
(and, of the renewal of life in springtime). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long dead time of winter.
German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.
The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the U.S. in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhas", sometimes spelled "Oschter Haws". "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
, not a rabbit. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnet
Bonnet (headgear)
Bonnets are a variety of headgear for both sexes, which have in common only the absence of a brim. Bonnet derives from the same word in French, where it originally indicated a type of material...
s before Easter. In 1835, Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of a goddess called Ostara, but as a romanticist, he tried to connect contemporary customs to pre-Christian traditions, knowing that no written sources of that time existed. Additionally, a goddess of that name is only mentioned in a single ancient source giving an ambiguous statement about an Ostara month.
Media
The media often uses the Easter Bunny in various Easter advertisements and films, such as Hop, Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The MovieHere Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie is a 2005 computer animated film, a sequel to the 1970 Rankin/Bass TV special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail. It was released by Classic Media. It made its television debut on 14 April, 2006 on Cartoon Network...
and Rise of the Guardians.
See also
- Santa ClausSanta ClausSanta Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
- Easter BilbyEaster Bilby- Origin :Bilbies are native Australian marsupials that are endangered. To raise money and increase popular awareness of conservation efforts, bilby-shaped chocolates and related merchandise are sold within many stores throughout Australia as an alternative to Easter bunnies.The first documented...
- Mad as a March hareMad as a March hareTo be as "mad as a March hare" is an English idiomatic phrase derived from the observed antics, said to occur only in the March breeding season of the Hare, genus Lepus...
- The Goose That Laid the Golden EggsThe Goose That Laid the Golden EggsKilling The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs is among the best known of Aesop's Fables and use of the phrase has become idiomatic of an unprofitable action motivated by greed.-The story and its moral:...
Further reading
- Ostara's Hare: The Pagan Origin of Easter
- Easter Origins and the Easter Bunny
- Charles J. BillsonCharles J. BillsonCharles James Billson was a translator, lawyer, and collector of folklore.Billson was born in Leicester, graduated from Oxford University, and died in Surrey.His works include a translation of Virgil's Aeneid, and a noted paper on the Easter Hare...
. "The Easter Hare." Folk-Lore. Vol. 3, No. 4 (December, 1892).