How did a bunny rabbit become associated with easter?
There are several variations of the story of the origins of the Easter Rabbit or the Easter Bunny, or perhaps more correctly, the Easter Hare. The hare was was associated with the Pagan festival celebrating the goddess Eostre (also known as Eastre or Ostara), from which the word Easter is derived. Eostre’s earthly symbol was the hare or rabbit. The hare is also symbolically associated with the moon and therefore may have indirectly become associated with Easter since the date of Easter is determined by the phases of the moon (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring Equinox, March 21). An article from the About’s Alternative Religions site gives more details of the Pagan origins of the Easter Bunny. The appearance of a rabbit as a creature that lays brightly colored eggs as gifts for children is documented in Germany in the 1500s, where kids eagerly awaited the arrival of the Oschter Haws.
