The red egg bunny comes from German lands and symbolizes fertility. The first appearance of the bunny as an Easter symbol was in Germany, appearing in books around 1500, although it has probably been present in popular tradition for longer. The Germans were also the first to invent bunny-shaped sweets in the 1800s made from dough and sugar. At the same time, the first chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany. What does The Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus?
Proved by historical scholars, The Easter Bunny has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and it is a symbol of paganism because it is dedicated to the gods. Also, the Easter bunny has, at its origins, no connection with the most sumptuous feast of Christianity. The bunny symbolizes spring and fertility, and its story comes from Anglo-Saxon pagan tradition. There is no connection between the Easter Bunny and the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only contact with the feast is a commercial developed over the years.
The rabbit symbol dates back to pagan festivals dedicated to the goddess Easter. In America, this tradition of the Easter bunny, bringing gifts of dyed eggs to well-behaved children, was brought by German immigrants.
What does Easter mean?
Easter is celebrated every Sunday, with a few exceptions: on Pentecost Sunday, because it is then celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit. On Palm Sunday, because it is then celebrated the entry into Jerusalem, so something different from the Resurrection.
Easter is the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In every Gospel, we have stories about Easter. In chapter 28 of his Gospel, St. Matthew the Evangelist appreciations the Resurrection. The presentation of those who were in connection with the Resurrection. Likewise, in St. Mark the Evangelist, we have such in chapter 16 such accounts, in the Holy Gospel of Luke in chapter 24. Also, in the Holy Gospel of John, two chapters, 20 and 21.
Suppose one of the Sundays falls on an Immaculate Feast, such as the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Day of the Cross, the Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the Baptism of the Lord Christ. In that case, as the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Day of the Cross, the Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Baptism of the Lord Christ, then the feast of the Resurrection, which the Sunday has is canceled, and only that feast is celebrated, the feast which falls on a Sunday.
Who is Jesus?
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is considered the oldest Christian feast. Easter has been celebrated since the apostolic times. Indeed, the word Easter comes from the Hebrew Pesah – passage. Also, the Passover of the Jews marks the course of the chosen people through the Red Sea from the bondage of Egypt to the land of the promised land, Canaan.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who sacrificed Himself on the cross for us out of love. Who demonstrated that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Son of God is the same as God. Because of His love for us, He has risen, and His soul has gone to heaven. Up there, in the Kingdom of Heaven, is where the soul will go. With Him, we will have eternal life.
Who is The Easter Bunny?
The Easter bunny has become so well established as a symbol of the Easter holiday that very few people wonder what the connection between the ear-tagged animal and the Resurrection is. While red eggs, lamb, and cake are all associated with the fabulous Christian feast, the rabbit has no significance. The Church says there is no connection between the animal and the Holy Feast of Easter and that the only link is the commercial side that people have exploited over time at the expense of the feast. Who is the bunny, and what does The Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus?
The Easter Bunny is an animal dedicated to and kept around the Easter holidays. It is said that, in honor of the goddess Eostre, the Anglo-Saxons used to hold a festival in the spring in which the rabbit was given pride of place. When Christianity reached the Anglo-Saxons, the traditions of Eostre’s festival period were adapted into ceremonies dedicated to the Resurrection of Jesus. This was also a way of getting pagans to convert to Christianity. And so the Eostre bunny became the Easter bunny. Symbol of the moon and fertility.
Even though stories or legends have appeared in some cultures over the years in which the animal is linked to the name of the Saviour, the Church does not confirm that there is a link between the animal and the feast.
What happened at The Last Supper?
There have been several theories about the Last Supper and its menu. Leonardo Da Vinci illustrates in his famous painting that the group ate eel fish. Pope Benedict XV said in 2007 that no lamb was eaten at the meal because the Last Supper was held before the lambing season. Others have suggested that the dinner was Pesach, a Jewish religious holiday.
At the Last Supper, Jesus broke bread and wine as the cup of suffering and his body to be broken for all mankind. Some scholars also claim that a basket of eggs and rabbit meat was on the table. Experts know from Bible passages that the participants ate unleavened bread and drank wine, but other details are more obscure.
Fruits such as grapes and figs were plentiful in this region, but none existed in early spring. There may have been dried figs at their table, however.
Key Verse related to Easter Bunny and Jesus
“And the hare is unclean to you because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof.”
Did Jesus eat rabbits?
The rabbit is considered a symbol of fertility because the animal can give birth at any time of the year. Over time, a link between fertility and resurrection was made, so the bunny became even more widely used as a holiday symbol.
According to biblical accounts, Jesus did not eat rabbits. Nor their flesh, but Jesus was a pescatarian vegan. Over the years, children’s stories have appeared in many cultures where the rabbit seems as the Savior’s pet. An old German tale from the 18th century depicts Jesus Christ as having a rabbit as a pet.
When the Saviour disappeared for three days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the rabbit waited for him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here the apostles are said to have found a crowd of colorful flowers, each with the figure of a rabbit in the center, which became a symbol of patience and hope in the story.
When did the Easter Bunny tradition begin?
Each of us eagerly awaits the Holy Feast of the Resurrection. But children are the happiest because at Easter the bunny comes to them and brings them many gifts, usually clothes, sweets or toys. Many of us wonder where and when did this bunny come from in the context of Easter?
The Easter bunny, the bringer of red eggs, originated in German lands in 1500 BC and symbolized fertility. The first appearance of the bunny as an Easter symbol was in Germany, appearing in books around 1500.
The Germans were the first to invent bunny-shaped sweets in 1800, made of dough and sugar. Around the same time, the first chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany. The origin of the Easter Bunny tradition can be traced back to pre-Christian fertility celebrations dedicated to the goddess Eostre, the moon goddess in northern European countries.
How does the Easter Bunny relate to the Resurrection of Jesus?
An old legend says that the goddess Eostre found a wounded bird in the snow one winter. The goddess wanted to save it from death and turned it into a rabbit that kept its ability to lay eggs. As a sign of gratitude to her benefactor. The rabbit used to decorate the eggs she laid and give them to the goddess.
History seems to suggest that the Easter bunny is linked to the Resurrection of Jesus because it was initially a hare that symbolized spring and the beginning of a new era. In pagan mythology, the hare represented love, fruitfulness, and fertility. The rabbit and the egg were also symbols of spring and the Saxon goddess Eostre. From the whose name, in some Germanic languages, the word for Easter is said to have originated. Another possibility is that Easter comes from Hebrew, where Pesah means passage.
Christian missionaries made the association of the pagan legend with the Easter celebrations. Who arrived among the northern tribes to convert them to Christianity. Because giving up, their old pagan celebrations were inconceivable even for the new Christians. The missionaries accepted that the Christianised populations should keep their customs to avoid recent bloody conflicts. But tried to adapt them.
Why do Christians still celebrate The Easter Bunny?
One legend says that a woman noticed a hare leaving such a shelter and went to look and discovered a nest of eggs. Which convinced her to believe that the eggs had been laid by the hare. Another legend says that the rabbit of the goddess Eostre was a beautiful bird that one day the goddess magically transformed into a rabbit. But since it was only a rabbit on the outside, it continued to make nests in which it laid eggs.
Christians still celebrate the Easter Bunny because it marks the transition from pagan to the Christian religion. All these myths have evolved over the year to such an extent that it is now barely known what bunnies have to do with Easter, apart from being found in chocolate form on shop shelves. This a sign that no matter the reasons each of us celebrates Easter, consumerism is in danger of making us forget the actual holiday: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The bunny is first mentioned as a symbol of Easter in 16th-century German writing, and two centuries later, it would appear in American folklore. Children made nests out of hats and bonnets and, if they were good, received colored eggs.
2 Facts about the Easter Bunny
In some ancient cultures, the rabbit was the symbol of the moon. Rabbits feed at night and have been seen staring at the moon when the moon is full. And also, their gestation period was thought to be 28 days, the length of a lunar cycle. This lunar cycle, which represented the victory of life over death or spring against winter, was celebrated around the vernal equinox. The following are three unique features of the Easter Bunny.
1. The bunny leaves behind its Easter Egg
The Rabbit is said to leave behind eggs. Also, one of the primary symbols associated with this season of renewal was the egg from which life springs. Indeed, it was not a Christian invention, as Anglo-Saxon pagans used the symbol to celebrate spring probably long before. Identifying exactly when the connection between Easter and the empty shell of the egg as a metaphor for Christ’s tomb was made is difficult. Eggs were forbidden food during Lent, the 40 days of reflection before this feast.
2. The Easter Bunny dates back to early Christianity
What does The Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus? The association between Easter, eggs, and rabbits dates back to early Christianity. When the celebration of the Resurrection was combined with pagan spring rites of fertility. Both rabbits and eggs were, for obvious reasons, symbols of fertility. Indeed, in the 8th century, Bede the Venerable was a great English theologian. Speculated that the English form of the word Easter originated from an Anglo-Saxon fertility/spring goddess. Once again, we discover that one of our holy days is tainted with lust.
Who decided that Easter would be celebrated on this day?
The New Testament Gospels say that Jesus then had his last supper; the next day, Friday, he was crucified on Calvary and rose three days later from the tomb where he had been buried. During preparations for Easter. The Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples. Before his crucifixion, he turned the bread and wine into elements of his own body. He was commanding them to spread his teachings.
Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, decided to solve the Easter problem and set a date for celebrating this event. He decreed that the resurrection of Christ was far too important to be connected with the festival of another faith. And also, like the days after the winter solstice gradually became longer and lighter, this provided the ideal symbolism for the resurrection of Christ.
Christ was also perceived as the New Passover, and the feast of his resurrection became the first Christian feast. In turn, Easter was named the month of Passover in honor of Christ, considered the sacrificial lamb of God.
Primary Takeaways
- For many, Easter is the unofficial beginning of spring. For Christians worldwide, it is the most important holiday of the year.
- With a tradition more than 2,000 years old, Easter commemorates the central event in the Christian church: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians see fulfilling the biblical prophecy of a messiah who would rise from the dead and give eternal life in heaven to those who believe in him.
- Easter has merged with the pagan spring festivals. Indeed, popular traditions now include a visit from the Easter Bunny. A famous symbol of spring that carries eggs, symbolizing new life. Also, one theory holds that this tradition originated in Germany.
Conclusion
Over the years, the bunny has become an image associated with Easter in more and more countries. Thanks to the animal’s propensity to reproduce, the rabbit is also seen as a symbol of fertility. Eggs are also symbols of new life and fertility, one reason the rabbit carries a basket of eggs. But there are other myths about the connection between the rabbit and Easter.
Likewise, there are many legends about the connection between Easter and eggs. Rabbits don’t lay eggs but lay their young in holes in fields and meadows. They usually make several such holes and don’t lay all their young together. It is often the case that harelips occupy such holes to house their eggs.
