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All about the Easter Bunny |
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The Easter Bunny is a traditional holiday character in the form of a giving rabbit which is said to leave gifts, usually Easter baskets for children at Easter . |
The Easter Bunny is a traditional holiday character in the form of a giving rabbit which is said to leave gifts, usually Easter baskets for children at Easter (or at springtime). It originates in Western European cultures, where it is a hare rather than a rabbit. The Easter Bunny is an example of folklore mythology and is sometimes taught to children to believe in. Some people don't approve of teaching of an existence of the Easter Bunny. Not everyone believes in the Easter Bunny, and many, if not most, eventually "grow out of" their belief. Other prominent examples of this are Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
Many families participate in the roles of this myth without believing in it literally as a form of play or tradition.
Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of extreme antiquity; since birds 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.
The saying "mad as a March Hare" refers to the wild caperings of hares as the males fight over the females in the early spring, then attempt to mate with them. Since the females often rebuff the males' advances before finally succumbing, the mating behavior often looks like a crazy dance; these fights led early observers to believe that the advent of spring made the hares "mad". Rabbits and hares are both lagomorphs; they are prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first (the two are born separately); this phenomenon is known as superfetation. Lagomorphs 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; however, the notion of a rabbit that lays eggs seems to have emerged from a confusion of two formerly separate symbolisms.
The precise origin of the custom of colouring eggs is not known, although it too is ancient; Greeks to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the renewal of life in springtime (and, later, the blood of the sacrificed Christ). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long "dead" time of winter. Other colors, including the pastels popular in the United States and elsewehere (possibly symbolizing the rainbow, another seasonal sign of luck and hope), seem to have come along later. The act of eating coloured eggs at the Spring Equinox can be considered a form of sympathetic magic or prayer for increased fertility, and for a bountiful harvest later in the year.
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. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.
The idea of an egg-laying rabbit came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhase". "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit.
Only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. Presumably, the "Oschter Haws" laid them when the children were not looking.
A hundred years later Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Noting many related landmarks and customs, Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of Ostara.
According to American tradition, the Easter Bunny leaves baskets of treats (including Easter eggs and assorted chocolates and candy) on Easter morning for good children. Sometimes children leave out carrots for the Easter Bunny, which is similar to the practice of leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus.
In the United States, revelers hide decorated hard-boiled eggs and children hunt for them. People also hide plastic eggs filled with candy or money.
In some places in the United States, some refer to the Easter Bunny as the "Spring Bunny" due to perceived religious overtones. The change has been met with significant criticism, and the term has never gained widespread use. [1]
In Australia, rabbits are an invasive species and generally considered pests. A long-running campaign to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby, a native marsupial, yielded moderate success. Easter Bilbies are a common and unremarked sight in many Australian stores around Easter. The sale of chocolate Easter Bilbies was to fund raise for the "Save the Bilby" campaign. [2] As the bilby is a threatened species,[3] it does not have the same connotations as rabbits, and the Easter Bunny remains considerably more recognized and better-known.
In France and Belgium, the eggs are not laid by rabbits, but dropped from the sky by the cloches de Pâques (Easter bells). In Christian tradition, church bells were silenced on Good Friday, out of respect for the death of Christ and rang again on Easter morning to celebrate the resurrection. The church bells, represented as flying bells (with wings), are said to have gone to Rome and flown back on Easter morning, loaded with eggs which they drop on their way back
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