Since when do bunnies lay eggs?

Have you ever wondered where bunnies and eggs came from for Easter? And how about all that chocolate that is supposedly necessary to really celebrate Easter? Isn't Easter supposed to be a celebration of Christ's resurrection?

YES!! For the believer, Easter is a remembrance and celebration of Christ's resurrection after His death (which is the focus of Good Friday). Hopefully, as believers we will never be so overrun by bunnies, colorful eggs, and chocolate that we lose sight that our Savior who died for us is alive today. More thoughts on that to come in another post.

So, what is with the egg laying bunnies? I mean, I hope we all know that baby bunnies don't hatch out of eggs like baby birds do. A rabbit is a mammal, they give birth like humans do (and that is as far as we will go with that).

So in my curiosity I went to GoodSearch (for Kelly Lamonica's school - Krug Elementary) and typed in "the history of bunnies and Easter". And I was directed to www.history.com. And since Easter is coming up they apparently are giving the history of Easter. So here is what I found out.
Easter is now celebrated on Sunday but used not to be so. Some, even still, want Easter to be a fixed date like Christmas (Dec. 25th if you were unaware). Originally, Christians of Jewish origin celebrated Christ's resurrection immediately after Passover festival and so Easter took place on different days of the week. Gentile Christians though wanted it celebrated on Sunday, the first day of the week. The Council of Nicaea got involved in 325 A.D. and ruled that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Got that! Anyway, more calendar discrepancies and stuff happened, but the end of the matter is that we celebrate Easter on Sunday but it could be different Sundays.

Now, for some pagan Easter origins. Since only believers were celebrating Christ's resurrection, the unbelievers also had celebrations not related to Christ's resurrection that began to filter into Christian Easter celebrations and are the reason that we have bunnies and eggs and the such today. New life is the central element. Unbelievers celebrated the new life of spring and fertility. In fact, the word "Easter" apparently is derived from Eastre who was the Anglo Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Eggs have long been a mythological symbol of birth and in the 13th century Christians began using eggs in Easter celebrations. The yolk was said to symbolize Christ's emergence from the tomb and the eggs were painted red to symbolize Christ's shed blood.

Soon however, the eggs were more than just red and the eggs "hatched" their own traditions including games like the Easter egg roll. The White House actually hosts an annual Easter egg roll every year - this year on Monday after Easter.

The bunny had long been a symbol of new life in European pagan celebration due to the fertility of rabbits. Apparently in Europe, especially among the Germans, there was a tradition that a bunny named "Oschter Haws" (interesting name for a bunny) would come to homes on Easter eve (sounds a lot like Santa Claus in a bunny costume) and leave colored eggs for children. Because of this children started leaving "nests" for the eggs to be put into, and from this came the Easter baskets and egg hunts and the such. Easter eggs were painted many different colors representing colors of spring and of course we know Easter eggs are painted all different ways now a days.

So what about all the chocolate. Well, you didn't think those chocolate makers were going to pass up on a way to make a profit did you? Of course not! So, in the 19th century (surprised it took that long), chocolate eggs and the like began being made to put into the Easter baskets and from there it has only escalated to the craziness that it has become today. In fact, billions (that's right, with a B) of dollars are spent every year on Easter candy. I spent a couple of dollars myself recently since my wife loves Cadbury Cream Eggs (of course laid by the Cadbury rabbit - those eggs aren't so good scrambled though).

So a new life celebration for the unbeliever - spring, fertility, eggs, bunnies, chocolate - that is where it comes from according to the history website.

I do not believe it is wrong for a believer to have Easter egg hunts or get chocolate and all. But if we forget the purpose of Easter (just like Christmas), that we are celebrating Christ's resurrection, and we allow the secular things of Easter to dim the importance of that, then we have a problem. So eat your candy, pet your bunnies, dye your Easter eggs (by the way probably want to use boiled eggs, the other ones are a pain to clean up); but don't forget that without the death and resurrection of Christ there would be NO new life. True new life is found in Jesus Christ alone!