Do you know the story of the Easter Bunny?!

When it comes to the actual character that we know as the “Easter Bunny” and the idea of him bringing us chocolate eggs on Easter, there is a very interesting pagan story behind the legend. The legend claims that the Germanic Goddess “Eastre” felt very bad for arriving late one spring and in order to help make amends for this she decided to save the life of a poor bird whose wings had frozen in the snow. Eastre made this bird her pet. Feeling compassion for this bird of hers because he no longer had the ability to fly Eastre decided to turn him into a snow hare named “Lepus”. She also gave him the ability to run very fast so he could avoid hunters and she also gave him one more special gift. In remembrance of his life as a bird Eastre gave Lepus the ability to lay “eggs”. Not only could Lepus lay eggs but these eggs would also come out in all the different colours of the rainbow. There was only one downfall to this great ability Lepus had, he could only lay these eggs on one day each year, on the day that the festival of Eastre was celebrated. From this simple and earliest known pagan legend we get the first stories of the birth of the idea of the “Easter Bunny” and also Easter Eggs and where they get their multiple bright colours from.
The first actually documented use of the “Bunny” as a symbol of “Easter” occurs in the late 1500’s in Germany of all places. Although pagan traditions and legends point the hare or rabbit as often being strongly associated with the time of “Eastre” or “Easter”. Following along with their firsts in terms of the “Easter Bunny” it was the Germans in the 1800’s who were the first ones to also create edible “Easter Bunnies”. Every spring their children would be spinning with excitement in their wait for the arrival of “Oschter Haws” (their Easter Bunny character) and the gifts that accompanied him.

The character of the rabbit or bunny is revered around the world in different cultures. Many Asian cultures hail the rabbit as a sacred messenger to the divine & for Buddhists and Egyptians the rabbit has special meaning. And of course Western Europe has their strong beliefs in the rabbit as a symbol of fertility and new life. Over time these many different legends about rabbits/bunnies has moulded this animal into the “Easter Bunny” a symbol of the Holiday which celebrates resurrection.

When it comes to the modern day tradition of the Easter Bunny, in Ireland, we follow the idea that on Easter Sunday children wake up to discover either that the “Easter Bunny” has left them a basket full of candy or that he has hidden eggs for them to find. There are only a few other countries who follow this same tradition. For example, in Austria, the “Easter Bunny” who is known to them as “Osterhase” hides decorated eggs, for children to find the next day, on the night before Easter Sunday. In New Zealand the stores all carry Hot Cross Buns and chocolate eggs that the Easter Bunny fills his basket with and delivers to all the children during his delivery rounds on Easter Sunday morning; usually hiding these treats just like the Irish “Easter Bunny” so that children have to search for them.

Happy Easter to all and we hope that the Easter Bunny is good to you this year!