Easter Bunny Origins: From Pagan Roots to Modern Traditions

Every spring, legend has it that a long-eared, cotton-tailed creature can be found hopping from house to house. It can be seen delivering festive baskets full of candy, treats, and toys, but it also leaves hidden colorful eggs in its wake, just waiting to be found. This furry creature has become a popular symbol of the Christian celebration of Easter, but where did the idea of an Easter Bunny come from? And how did this furry, adorable woodland creature become the predominant symbol for the spring season?

Because Easter symbols and traditions have evolved over time, the exact origins of the Easter Bunny are shrouded in mystery. For Christians, the Easter celebration revolves around the resurrection of Jesus. However, despite the fact that many Christian Easter traditions and symbols have been around for centuries, many of the traditional Easter customs have no direct connection to the Bible. For example, the decoration of eggs traces its roots back to the 13th century, and Easter parades have an even lengthier past. But the practice of leaving candy is a modern adaptation to the legend of the Easter Bunny!

Rabbits are known to be prolific and energetic procreators, which is why they are often seen as a symbol of fertility and new life. One theory of the Easter Bunny stems from the ancient pagan festival of Eostre. English and German spring festivals revolved around celebrating and honoring the goddess Eostre. She is the Germanic goddess of the dawn and fertility, whose main symbol is the hare. In 8th century England, the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or the month of Eostre. Thus the Easter Bunny is a testament to the ancient custom of honoring fertility through the goddess. And over time, the pagan festival of spring, held in honor of the goddess Eostre, became assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. And the Easter Bunny recalls these pre-Christian celebrations of the vernal equinox personified by the goddess Eostre.

Most European languages refer to the Christian holiday of Easter using a name that came from the Jewish holiday of Passover. For example, the French use the word Pâques and the Swedes use the word Påsk. But English and Germanic languages keep the older, non-biblical term for the holiday: Easter.

Celebrating themes of rebirth and resurrection during the spring is apt after a long, cold winter. Flowers begin to bloom, birds are laying eggs, and baby bunnies are hopping about in the green grass. The rabbit, or hare, became a symbol of this new growth throughout the ages. During the Neolithic age in Europe, hares were given ritual burials alongside humans as a religious ritual to represent rebirth. During the Iron Age, almost a thousand years later, these burials had become quite commonplace. Even Julius Caesar declared that hares were not to be eaten due to their religious significance.

Sacred to the goddess Aphrodite in ancient Greece, the hare was one of her symbols as well. In fact, her son, Eros, was often depicted carrying a hare as a symbol of unquenchable desire. The image of the hare has remained a symbol of sexuality in art and literature. Even the Virgin Mary is often depicted with a hare, but in her case, the hare is white, symbolizing her ability to overcome sexual temptation.

However, the Easter Bunny may have much different roots than the pagan spring festival of Eostre or Aphrodite and Eros. While still Germanic in nature, the Easter Bunny may have been introduced to America by German immigrants. While immigrants brought with them a zest for a new American life, they kept many of their previous customs and traditions. And one of these was an egg-laying hare named Osterhase or Oschter Haws.

In the 1700s, German immigrants first came to Pennsylvania, and they told stories of a rabbit that would lay colorful eggs. These eggs were gifts for good children. So the children would make nests where the bunny could leave its eggs. They would also leave carrots for the bunny in case it got hungry hopping from house to house. In the morning, they would wake to the eggs. Over time, this practice spread across the United States and morphed throughout the decades and centuries to become more and more elaborate. Deliveries from the bunny became more elaborate as it expanded from colored eggs to chocolates, toys, and other treats while the nests transformed into baskets. Today, many people purchase large Easter baskets that can be sold in stores full of all kinds of treats.

While an egg-laying rabbit may seem a bit of a stretch, it really is not. We all know that rabbits are mammals and give birth to live young, so they could not possibly lay or bring eggs. But it isn’t a holiday miracle. Just like the rabbit, the egg is an ancient symbol of fertility, rebirth, and new life. The Easter Bunny combines iconography associated with springtime celebrations.

The tradition of coloring or dyeing eggs is believed to date back to the 13th century when eggs were considered a forbidden food during the Lent season. Lent is a period of 40 days leading up to the Christian Easter feast. Some believe the 40 days come from the fasting that followed the Babylonian worship of Tammuz, known in Sumeria as Dumuzi. He was a Mesopotamian god of fertility that embodied the powers for new life in nature during the spring and was honored by a period of 40 days of weeping. However, there is no clear connection between the ancient Mesopotamian god and the Christian tradition, which is why it is more likely that the 40-day period came from the period of fasting and temptation Jesus underwent in the wilderness after this baptism.

Eggs were forbidden food during Lent, but once again allowed to be consumed on Easter. The eggs would be painted and decorated to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting. Plus, it was a fun addition to being able to eat them once again on Easter. In the 19th century, Russian high society started exchanging ornately decorated eggs, some even jewel-encrusted, on Easter Day. Today many Christians view the eggs as a representation of Jesus’ resurrection and subsequent emergence from his tomb.

The Easter Bunny is often depicted as a white rabbit with long ears who wears bright, colorful human clothes and carries a basket full of candy, treats, and decorated eggs. Much like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny can be found at parades or in the mall just waiting for children to take their pictures with him. But while customs in the United States always use a bunny for the celebration, it isn’t always a bunny in other countries. In Australia, they welcome spring through the Easter Bilby, which is an endangered marsupial that looks much like a rabbit; however, it is native to the country. And in Switzerland, there is the Easter Cuckoo, while in areas of Germany, you will also find an Easter Fox and an Easter Rooster.

The hare became associated with Easter around 1600 in the folk traditions of England and Germany. During this time, several historical accounts describe children hunting for eggs hidden by the Easter hare, just like in modern times. Other written accounts from around the same period also mention the Easter hare, specifically in reference to Easter hare hunts and the eating of hare meat at Easter. One tradition held in the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire, England, was the Hare Pie Scramble. This tradition involved people “scrambling” to get a slice of pie made with hare meat. Then in 1790, the local preacher tried to ban this tradition, stating it was aligned with pagan customs and should not be practiced by Christians. However, he was unsuccessful in banning the tradition, and it continues to this day.

Witches in medieval Europe were often thought to take the form of a hare. In this form, they could cause mischief, such as stealing milk from neighboring cows or even sucking out their life energy, thus causing the cattle to become ill. For this reason, many people began to associate eating the meat of a hare with scaring away witches. Eating rabbit meat at Easter was a longstanding Northern European folk tradition to keep the witches at bay. Banishing the witches of winter during the spring celebrations is a common motif seen throughout European festivities and rituals, as the spring equinox symbolized new life, which was in direct opposition to the cold winter when the earth withdrew.

Many of our current practices during religious holidays have roots in ancient customs and practices, and Easter is no different. Pagans celebrated the springtime renewal of life by honoring the goddess Eostre. She was often represented with a hare and eggs, both symbols of rebirth and life. As the old ways were slowly replaced by Christianity in Europe, the celebrations around the vernal equinox merged with the new religion. The celebration of spring coincided with Jesus’ resurrection, as they both occurred around the same time. Because of this, we have a beautiful mix of pagan symbolism within a Christian holiday.