Easter Bunny

[bluaki]

Where in the world did the idea for this holiday character come from?

Also discuss the Easter Bunny in this thread

[Houdini]

Hey

[[hedy]Zidone]

[spoiler=Quote]

Rabbits and hares

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."[1] This bold behavior makes the hares, normally timid and retiring animals, much more conspicuous to human observation in the spring.

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 litters 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 sayings, "to breed like bunnies" or "multiply like rabbits"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore.

Eggs

Eggs are, by their nature, obvious fertility symbols. As for rabbits laying eggs, several explanations have been proposed.

In English, the etymology of the word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess of the spring named Eostre, related to German Ostara. According to popular folklore, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became the modern Easter Bunny.[2]

The precise origin of the ancient custom of coloring eggs is not known. 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.

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.[3]

The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the United States 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, 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 bonnets before Easter.[4] In 1883, 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.[5]

The German and Amish legends were most likely rooted in European folklore about hares' eggs [6] which seems to have been a confusion between hares raising their young at ground level and the finding of plovers' nests nearby, abandoned by the adult birds to distract predators. Hares use a hollow called a form rather than a burrow. Lapwings nest on the same sort of ground, and their nests look very similar to hare forms. So in the Spring, eggs would be found in what looked like hare forms, giving rise to the belief that the hare laid eggs in the spring.[7]

[/spoiler]

It's a filthy pagan tradition.

[Sam]

I dunno, but Walmart makes awesome easter bunny money.

[Commander Fuckass]

God do you ever shut the hell up and stop complaining?

[bluaki]

God do you ever shut the hell up and stop complaining?

I'm not complaining

[ME##]

God do you ever shut the hell up and stop complaining?

How is she complaining? She's just asking how the Easter Bunny came about.

[Garahe]

God do you ever shut the hell up and stop complaining?

Is it just me, or are half your posts flames?

[Commander Fuckass]

Is it just me, or are half your posts flames?

Niether, it's Jesus

[superclucky]

My mom doesn't like chocolate bunnies and never gave me one.


Easter makes me deprived from shit chocolate. :'(

[Garahe]

Niether, it's Jesus

Oh., I need to see his posts then.

[The Hand That Fisted Everyone]

My mom doesn't like chocolate bunnies and never gave me one.


Easter makes me deprived from shit chocolate. :'(

chocolate is overrated

get some jellybeans

[superclucky]

chocolate is overrated

get some jellybeans

jellybeans taste like shit
Except Jolly Rancher/Starburst (I forgot which one is reall good) ones but I don't think they don't make them anymore.

[The Hand That Fisted Everyone]

jellybeans taste like shit
Except Jolly Rancher/Starburst (I forgot which one is reall good) ones but I don't think they don't make them anymore.

They still make the starburst ones I got some from wal-mart while ago.

[superclucky]

They still make the starburst ones I got some from wal-mart while ago.

Then its the Jolly Rancher ones.