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Which came first, the bunny or the egg?
We had a great Easter. My dear friend, dating from our halcyon days at Ohio State in the early ‘80s, came from Columbus with her husband and kids. We colored eggs. We went to grandma's and grandpa's house in Middleburg for an Easter egg hunt. We ate ham and some early lettuce. Everyone had a swell time.
But every holiday – especially with inquisitive young people around – seems to bring with it questions about the way our special rituals get started. Why do we have Christmas trees? How did we get started trick or treating? And for Easter, why do we color eggs, and what’s the deal with the Easter Bunny?
The answers to these questions have their roots in the practices of our pagan ancestors and the spread of Christianity among folks clinging to the old ways.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, early proponents of the faith met with some resistance from pagan peoples reluctant to give up their old rituals. For practical purposes, many of the old ways of doing things were preserved and incorporated into the new Christian rituals, which made them much more palatable to the pagans.
For example, early European pagans geared their festivals around the seasons and the movements of the sun and moon. Their spring festival, with the rebirth of living and growing things all around them, naturally celebrated fertility.
Held around the vernal equinox (March 20-21), the Saxons’ fertility festival honored the goddess Eastre. Her symbol was a hare. In the Norse regions, Eastre’s equivalent was a goddess by the name of Ostara, who was symbolized by the hare and by eggs.
Even before the connection with Ostara, eggs were well established as a symbol of rebirth and fertility. They were present in the symbology of the ancient Romans and Greeks, and according to About.com, may have fulfilled a similar role since the onset of human civilization.
So, it would seem, the answer is that the egg came first, but the hare is pretty important too. Yeah, rabbits are almost as good as symbols of fertility and birth as the egg. But there’s more.
In Germany, perhaps as early as the 1500s, references are made to “Oschter Haws,” a big ol’ rabbit that would leave colored eggs to good girls and boys – kind of a springtime Santa, if you will. Children would build a nest, indoors or out in their barns, for the eggs. They would often use their hats or bonnets to make a suitable little space for the gifts from the Haws-meister.
The tradition of the Easter Bunny made his way across the Atlantic with the German folks who settled in our country in the 1700s. Later we inherited the German custom of edible Easter bunnies (the first ones were pastries), and added our own American flourish of Easter baskets (instead of hats) for the eggs.
Regardless of how you celebrate the vernal equinox, we can all take heart in the rebirth and reawakening of living things around us.
Easter came early this year, but spring? Not a minute too soon.
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