Easter Bunny

A 1907 postcard
A bunny and eggs

The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, 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, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. It was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Frankenau's De ovis paschalibus[1] (About Easter Eggs) in 1682[2] referring to an Alsace tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs.

Symbols

A chocolate Easter Bunny

Rabbits and hares

The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times it was widely believed (as by Pliny, Plutarch, Philostratus and Aelian) that the hare was hermaphrodite.[3][4][5] The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child. It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity, as in the three hares motif,[3][6] representing the "One in Three and Three in One" of which the triangle or three interlocking shapes such as rings are common symbols. In England, this motif usually appears in a prominent place in the church, such as the central rib of the chancel roof, or on a central rib of the nave. This suggests that the symbol held significance to the church, and casts doubt on the theory that they may have been masons' or carpenters' signature marks.[7]

Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of 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.[citation needed]

Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. Female hares can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first.[8] 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.

Eggs

Main articles: Easter egg and Egg decorating

The precise origin of the ancient custom of decorating 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 Church to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red,[9] the color of blood, in recognition of the blood of the sacrificed Christ (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. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.[10]

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 "Osterhase" (sometimes spelled "Oschter Haws"[11]).[12] "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.[13] In 1835, Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of the reconstructed continental Germanic goddess *Ostara.[14]

Media

The media often uses the Easter Bunny in various Easter advertisements and films, such as Hop, Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie and Rise of the Guardians.

In the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994) Jack Skellington asks to see Santa Claus in Halloween Town, but he is mistakenly brought the Easter Bunny.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Weiser Antiquarian Books - Catalog". www.weiserantiquarian.com. http://www.weiserantiquarian.com/catalogeleven/. Retrieved 2010-10-17. [dead link]
  2. ^ Easter Bunny - What Does He Have To Do With Easter?, occultcenter.com
  3. ^ a b Chris Chapman Three Hares Project, What does the Symbol Mean?
  4. ^ Marta Powell Harley. "Rosalind, the hare, and the hyena in Shakespeare's As You Like It". Shakespeare Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2869713?uid=3739864&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=56001544743. 
  5. ^ "Sir Thomas Browne (1646; 6th ed., 1672) Pseudodoxia Epidemica III:xvii (pp. 162-166)". http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo317.html. 
  6. ^ "Three Hares as representation of the Trinity". Threehares.blogspot.com. 2006-02-25. http://threehares.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-three-hares_25.html. Retrieved 2010-06-29. 
  7. ^ Chapman, Chris (2004). "The Three Hares Project". http://www.chrischapmanphotography.com/hares/. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
  8. ^ Lumpkin, Susan; John Seidensticker (2011). Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide. JHU Press. ISBN 0-8018-9789-0. p. 122.
  9. ^ How To Dye Red Eggs with Onion Skins for Greek Easter by Nancy Gaifyllia from Your Guide to Greek Food on About.Com Accessed April 9, 2008
  10. ^ Shrove Tuesday Pancakes! by Bridget Haggerty - Irish Culture & Customs, World Cultures European, paragraph 5 line 2 refers to the catholic custom of abstaining from eggs during Lent. Accessed 3/1/08
  11. ^ http://www.germanworldonline.com/index.php/grus-vom-osterhasen-oschter-haws-song/
  12. ^ http://www.holidays.net/easter/bunny1.htm
  13. ^ Easter Symbols from Lutheran Hour Ministries. Accessed 2/28/08]
  14. ^ Grimm, Jacob (1835). Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology); From English released version Grimm's Teutonic Mythology (1888)

Further reading

External links

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