The Real Story and History of the Easter Bunny

Some consider Easter as a religious holiday and for some it is a celebration on the occasion of end of winter as it symbolizes fresh beginnings. To most people, especially children, it is about the colored eggs, chocolate Easter bunny and other kind of sweet surprises. The colored eggs and Letters from the Easter Bunny himself are the highlights of Easter. However, have you ever wondered what the history and real story of Easter Bunny who is the favorite of everyone is?

Most of us do not question the history of the Easter Bunny as it is a tradition which is followed from the ancient times in almost all cultures. The Easter Bunny is a very prominent icon of this festival and has quite interesting origins. The rabbits and hares and eggs are considered as fertility symbols since ancient times. It is not a wonder that these animals have become symbols of rebirth and fertility associated with earth especially after a long winter as they are prolific breeders. Since number of centuries, parents have been entertaining the children with stories of the Easter hare which visits will be children under Easter night and leaves Easter gifts for them which includes the colored eggs and personalized Letters from the Easter Bunny. Even now, some children tend to leave carrots for the Easter hare it just like the cookies and milk are left for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

The Easter Bunny has caused a considerable amount of controversy across the world since centuries. Some non-Christian people have renamed the Easter Bunny as the Spring Bunny for maintaining the wall of separation between secular life and religion. Also, some of the Christian people actually disavow Easter for recognizing the pagan roots. In Australia, a rabbit is a non-native species and when they bred in a plague it actually resulted in an ecological disaster. Therefore, the Australians have actually been trying to remove the Easter Bunny and replace it with a marsupial called as the Bilby and therefore you will find a chocolate Bilby in the children's Easter baskets instead of a chocolate bunny.

There is another theory which states that the goddess Eostre found an injured bird in a snowy forest in winter which she transformed into a rabbit so that it was able to survive the cold. However, the transformation was not complete as the rabbit still laid eggs. In gratitude to the goddess the rabbit decorated the eggs and presented the same to the goddess every spring. But, it should be noted that there are no references about this story predating 1990 and therefore it is questionable that this story constitutes any kind of ancient tradition.

However, people have continued to include the Easter Bunny in the Easter celebrations in a major manner and Easter eggs and letters to the Easter Bunny continued to form a major part of the Easter tradition.