Easter Bunny

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This article is about the holiday figure. For the Kuiper Belt object, see 2005 FY9.

An Easter Bunny figurine

The "Easter Bunny" is a traditional holiday character in the form of a rabbit which is said to leave gifts, usually Easter baskets for children at Easter (or at springtime). It originates in Western European cultures, where it is a hare rather than a rabbit, and in the eastern half of the continent it also has a long tradition in Hungary.

The Easter Bunny is an example of folklore mythology. Other prominent characters are Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

Some families participate in the roles of this myth without believing in it literally as a form of play or tradition.

1 Origins
2 Local traditions
3 Mythology
4 In popular culture
5 References
6 External links

Origins

Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of extreme antiquity; since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth (to large litters) in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.

The saying "mad as a March Hare" refers to the wild caperings of hares as the males fight over the females in the early spring, then attempt to mate with them. Since the females often rebuff the males' advances before finally succumbing, the mating behavior often looks like a crazy dance; these fights led early observers to believe that the advent of spring made the hares "mad". Rabbits and hares are both lagomorphs; they are prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first (the two are born separately); this phenomenon is known as superfetation. Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the saying, "to breed like bunnies"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore; however, the notion of a rabbit that lays eggs has an uncertain past. It may have simply arisen from a confusion of symbolism but, like much of the holiday of Easter itself, it could be a direct heritage from older traditions. In Germanic and Slavic languages, the word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess of the spring named Eostre. According to legend, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became the modern Easter Bunny[1].

The precise origin of the custom of colouring eggs is not known, although it too is ancient; Greeks to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the color of blood, in recognition of the renewal of life in springtime (and, later, the blood of the sacrificed Christ). Some also use the color green, in honor of the new foliage emerging after the long "dead" time of winter. Other colors, including the pastels popular in the United States and elsewehere (possibly symbolizing the rainbow), seem to have come along later.

German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs for Easter, but did not want to introduce their children to the Catholic rite of fasting. Eggs were forbidden to Catholics during the fast of Lent, which was the reason for the abundance of eggs at Easter time.

The idea of an egg-laying bunny came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhase". "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit.

Only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter.

A hundred years later Jakob Grimm wrote of long-standing similar myths in Germany itself. Noting many related landmarks and customs, Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of Ostara.

Local traditions

According to American tradition, the Easter Bunny leaves baskets of treats (including Easter eggs and assorted chocolates and candy) on Easter morning for good children. Sometimes children leave out carrots for the Easter Bunny, which is similar to the practice of leaving milk and cookies for Santa Claus.

In the United States, the Bunny supposedly hides decorated hard-boiled eggs, plastic eggs filled with candy or money, and children hunt for them.

Some communities in the United States have renamed the animal the "Spring Bunny," to avoid perceived religious overtones. This has provoked some controversy.^[1]

In Hungary children prepare nests, in which the Bunny will leave eggs, chocolates and other presents. Sometimes the parents present a live rabbit to their child.

In Australia, rabbits are an invasive species and generally considered pests. A long-running campaign to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby, a native marsupial, yielded moderate success. Easter Bilbies are a common and unremarked sight in many Australian stores around Easter. The sale of chocolate Easter Bilbies was to fund raise for the "Save the Bilby" campaign. ^[2] As the bilby is a threatened species,^[3] it does not have the same connotations as rabbits, and the Easter Bunny remains considerably more recognized and better-known.

In France and Belgium, the eggs are said to be dropped from the sky by the cloches de Pâques (Easter bells). In Christian tradition, church bells were silenced on Good Friday, out of respect for the death of Christ and rang again on Easter morning to celebrate the resurrection. The church bells, represented as flying bells (with wings), are said to have gone to Rome and flown back on Easter morning, loaded with eggs which they drop on their way back. ^[4]

In Romania and Hungary, the children together with their parents decorate the Easter eggs on Thursday or Saturday. The Easter Bunny delivers presents to the children on the night between Saturday and Sunday. In some families, the presents are delivered on the night between Friday and Saturday.

Mythology

Recently, a neopagan legend has sprung up concerning the Easter Bunny. Though it is usually circulated as an ancient Pagan tradition, it does not appear before 1990; it is presented by a fictitious character, Mrs. Sharp, created by an author of inspirational aphorisms. (Sarah Ban Breathnach, 'Nostalgic Suggestions for Re-Creating the Family Celebrations and Seasonal Pastimes of the Victorian Home'). It reached a far wider audience when in 2002 a version of the story, The Coming of Eostre, was published in the children's magazine Cricket.

According to the story, the goddess Eostre found a wounded bird in the snow. To help the little bird survive the winter, she transformed it into a rabbit, but the transformation was incomplete and the rabbit retained the ability to lay eggs. In thanks for its life being saved, the rabbit took the eggs and decorated them and left them as gifts for Eostre.[2]

In popular culture

Here Comes Peter Cottontail was a 1971 Easter television special based on the song of the same name and produced by Rankin-Bass. In 2006, it was followed by a direct to video sequel, Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie. Rankin-Bass produced several children's television specials to commemorate Christmas as well as Easter and other holidays.

The Easter Bunny has been portrayed in a number of variations in several Muppet productions since 1975.

In 1992, Claymation artist Will Vinton produced a TV special involving a greedy pig (literally) who plots to kidnap the Easter Bunny and replace him. The Bunny himself is an unflappable, mild-mannered Mr. Rogers sort of character.

In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, and Barrel accidentally capture the Easter Bunny mistakening it for Santa Claus. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the Easter Bunny is one of Oogie Boogie's captive victims in his quest to become the Seven Holiday Kings.

The Easter Bunny makes extended cameo appearances in both sequels to the 1998 Christmas film The Santa Clause: The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause movies. He appears as a large, anthropomorphic rabbit who is a member of the Council of Legendary Characters. In both movies, he is portrayed by actor Jay Thomas.

In the animated televisions series The Fairly OddParents, the Easter Bunny appears in the episode "Christmas Every Day" voiced by Robert Costanzo. Besides his personality of hiding his Easter Eggs, he led the holiday characters Baby New Year, Cupid, and the April Fool into getting Timmy Turner to unwish the wish and also take out Santa Claus. He also has a dog which he hates to leave at home that was dressed as the Spirit of Halloween with the strap-on bat wings and the Jack O'Lantern head (which the pumpkin cracks open upon his introduction) dubbing him "Halloweenie Dog."

The Easter Bunny (and his twin brother, Daryl) appeared in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force in which Meatwad (a meatball) wishes for the Easter Bunny to appear.

The South Park episode Fantastic Easter Special provides an alternative origin of the tradition of the Easter Bunny in an elaborate parody of The Da Vinci Code.