What does the Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus?

Hey friend! Easter is coming up soon. As a holiday, Easter can seem like a mishmash of bunnies, eggs, chocolate, and church services. With all the secular trappings of Easter these days, it‘s easy to lose sight of its origins as an important Christian celebration.

As someone with a background in technology and data analysis, I‘ve done some digging into the history and facts around Easter. In particular, I wanted to find out how non-religious Easter symbols like the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs relate to the Christian meaning of Easter as the remembrance of Jesus‘s crucifixion and resurrection.

In this post, I‘ll share with you the results of my research into how the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs made their way into this springtime Christian holiday. Grab your favorite bunny-shaped chocolate and let‘s hop to it!

The Origin of the Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny is arguably the most iconic secular symbol of Easter today. This rabbit bringing baskets of colored eggs, candy, and toys to children on Easter morning has no literal Biblical religious meaning. However, the Easter Bunny does have some historical Christian roots.

According to several sources, including ReligionNews.com, the Easter Bunny or "Osterhase" originated among German Lutherans in the 1600s as a symbol of fertility and new life associated with spring. Germans who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1700s brought this tradition with them to America.

The Pennsylvania Dutch called their furry springtime visitor "Oschter Haws" or Easter Hare (both spellings were used). Children would build nests for the creature, who would then lay colored eggs in them in gratitude. Over time, the nest tradition faded away and the Easter Hare began delivering baskets of eggs directly to children.

By the 1900s, the Easter Hare had morphed into a rabbit and became known as the Easter Bunny. Easter Bunnies and nests were common decorations and edible gifts. Postcards from the early 1900s show white bunnies and children‘s nests full of eggs labeled as gifts from the Easter Bunny.

Chocolate companies like Cadbury, Mars, and Hershey capitalized on the Easter Bunny‘s popularity in the mid-20th century. They marketed bunny-shaped candies, chocolate eggs, and other Easter candy treats featuring images of the Easter Bunny. Suddenly the Easter Bunny wasn‘t just bringing eggs—he was made of chocolate too!

But where did this furry creature originate before the Germans co-opted him? In many pre-Christian European pagan mythologies, rabbits were an iconic symbol of spring and fertility.

• According to MentalFloss.com, the ancient Egyptians saw rabbits as symbols of procreation due to their high reproduction rates. They consecrated rabbits to their spring fertility goddess Eostre.

• Germanic pagan cultures also associated rabbits and hares with fertility for the same reason. One theory is that the Osterhase was inspired by the Norse goddess Ostara‘s hare companion.

So while the Easter Bunny is a relatively modern invention, he has ancient pagan roots as a personification of springtime fertility, regeneration, and new beginnings. Appropriating pagan symbols was a common practice as Christianity spread into Europe and the British Isles. The bunny‘s association with Easter eggs and gifts also drew on early traditions of eggs andramp; nest gifts representing new life at the start of spring.

The Meaning of Easter Eggs

Brightly decorated and painted chicken, duck, or goose eggs are another ubiquitous non-religious Easter symbol with origins completely independent of Christianity.

The egg has symbolized birth, fertility, and the beginning of new life in many cultures dating all the way back to ancient times. According to History.com, decorated eggs were part of spring rituals in ancient Persia and Egypt to celebrate new life.

In medieval Europe, Christians abstained from eating eggs and meat during the Lenten fast leading up to Easter. Eggs laid during Lent could not be eaten but they did not spoil, so households had a surplus of eggs by Easter time. Decorating these eggs for Easter meals became an art form and tradition.

There are also a few ancient folk tales attempting to link Easter eggs to the resurrection of Jesus. In one, the egg miraculously turns blood red after Mary Magdalene uses it to explain Jesus‘s resurrection to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Another claims that Simon of Cyrene, who helped carry Jesus‘s cross, was an egg merchant who began decorating eggs in celebration of the resurrection.

While these legends provide after-the-fact Christian explanations for Easter eggs, historians agree eggs were already an established spring fertility symbol throughout Europe long before Christianity. Just like the Easter Bunny, Easter eggs were effortlessly absorbed into Easter rituals because they so perfectly represented themes of new life.

The Orthodox tradition of dying Easter eggs red symbolizes the blood Christ shed on the cross. The shell represents the sealed tomb that was opened to reveal Christ had risen. So eggs came to reflect Christ‘s resurrection as well as the promises of new life and fertility associated with spring.

By the Numbers: Easter Egg Hunts and the Easter Bunny

To give you a sense of just how popular Easter Bunnies and Easter egg hunts are today, here are some fun facts and statistics:

• 76% of Americans think the Easter Bunny participates in Easter egg hunts today.

• Parents buy more than $120 million worth of Easter candy for egg hunts each year.

• 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced for Easter annually.

• 16 billion jellybeans are made for Easter—enough to fill a tunnel from New York to Chicago!

• Peeps are the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy, with over 5.5 million Peeps produced daily.

• 76% of people eat the ears of the chocolate bunny first.

As you can see, the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs are clearly integral to many people‘s Easter celebrations even if they have nothing to do with Jesus!

The Christian Meaning of Easter

In contrast to secular Easter rituals, the religious meaning of Easter focuses on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament of the Bible. Here‘s a quick overview of the events of Holy Week and Easter according to Christian scripture and tradition:

Palm Sunday – The Sunday before Easter, commemorating Jesus‘s entry into Jerusalem when he was greeted by crowds waving palm branches and hailed as the prophesied Messiah or savior.

Maundy Thursday – The Thursday before Easter, also called Holy Thursday. Christians commemorate The Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples before his arrest.

Good Friday – The Friday before Easter, the day Jesus was crucified and died on the cross. It is called Good Friday despite this tragic event because Christians believe Jesus‘s death was God‘s will and led to the greater good of the forgiveness of sins.

Holy Saturday – The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Jesus laid dead in the tomb. It represents the limbo Jesus‘s disciples experienced, believing their Messiah was gone.

Easter Sunday – The resurrection day, when Jesus was revealed to be alive again after dying, proving he was the Christ. Multiple accounts in the Gospels recount Jesus appearing to his followers on Easter.

The 40 Days after Easter – The Bible records Jesus staying on earth for 40 days after his resurrection and appearing to many people to provide confirmation he had risen bodily from death. After 40 days, he physically ascended to heaven.

As you can see from this timeline, Easter Sunday represents the high point of the Christian story when Jesus is resurrected after his sacrificial death, validating all that he taught and showing him to be the son of God with power over death itself.

The resurrection fulfilled ancient prophecies about the Messiah and showed God‘s miraculous power. It gives believers hope of eternal life in heaven with God, since Jesus overcame the barrier of death. That is why Easter is considered the most holy and significant date on the Christian calendar.

Commercialization: Big Business of Non-Religious Easter Symbols

Though Easter remains centrally focused on Jesus‘s resurrection for Christians, you‘d be forgiven for missing that religious significance amongst all the Easter Bunnies and egg hunts!

The chocolate industry in particular has capitalized on Easter to become the 2nd biggest season for candy sales after Halloween:

• Total U.S. Easter candy sales hit $2.2 billion in 2016.
• 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced for Easter.
• 16 billion jellybeans are made for Easter.

Candy companies like Cadbury creatively shape their Easter-themed chocolate eggs and bunnies and package them in pastel spring colors adorned with flowers and rabbits. These treats attractively fill supermarket shelves and prompt impulse purchases from customers.

Retailers love Easter for the boost it provides to sales of clothing, home decor, garden supplies, and spring plants. Restaurants and hotels charge premium prices on brunch and getaways over the long Easter weekend, taking advantage of heavy leisure travel during this time.

While all of this commercial activity keeps the economy humming, some Christians lament the dilution of Easter‘s religious significance under the weight of all the eggs and bunnies. Yet the secular symbols are harmless fun, even if they shift the focus a bit from Jesus‘s sacrifice and resurrection. Plus, they act as friendly invitations to celebrate springtime renewal for people of any or no faith.

In the end, traditions like the Easter Bunny and Easter Egg hunts provide fun ways for friends and families to come together and celebrate. The arrival of spring with its promise of new life brings a sense of hope that we all need, now more than ever in these difficult times. To me, that makes even the most secular and silly of Easter customs well worth embracing.

I hope reflecting on how the Easter Bunny hopped into Easter celebrations alongside all those eggs was an interesting use of your time. May you and your loved ones have a very happy Easter weekend filled with fun, family, great food, and meaningful moments, whether they involve church or just bunny-shaped chocolates. Have a blessed holiday!