Where does the Easter Bunny come from?
Easter is annual festival commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on a Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The origin of its name is unknown. Scholars, however, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St Bede, believe it probably comes from “Eostre”, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured Easter eggs, originally painted with bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg-rolling contests or given as gifts. Such festivals, and the stories and legends that explain their origin, were common in ancient religions. A Greek legend tells of the return of Perse
