The Strange History of the Easter Bunny
Easter, known in the Christian faith as Resurrection Sunday, is a religious holiday that commemorates when Jesus Christ rose from the dead. According to the New Testament of the Bible, the resurrection occurred on the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary, around 30 CE. Fast-forward to the present day, and we find people celebrating this miraculous event by searching for hidden colorful eggs and consuming copious amounts of chocolate, all of it enabled by a fluffy rabbit — not exactly what you would associate with the events following the crucifixion.
The rabbit’s involvement, in particular, is somewhat baffling. The Bible certainly doesn’t mention any rabbits in association with Jesus’ resurrection, Holy Week (the last week of Lent), or Easter. So where did the Easter Bunny come from? Historians still aren’t entirely sure, but there are some clues as to the origins of this legendary leporid.
The Easter Bunny’s Ancient Origins
Rabbits and hares have been perceived as sacred for millennia by civilizations across the globe. They were venerated in Celtic mythology, they appear in the fables of Central African societies, and they are portrayed as cunning tricksters in the myths of Indigenous tribes in North America such as the Michabo and Manabush. Then there’s the intriguing “three hares” symbol, an enigmatic representation of three hares running in an endless loop, which has been discovered in numerous cultures across the globe, from the United Kingdom to China. How any of this might connect with Easter is difficult to say, but we do know that the rabbit has a long history of symbolic usage, and is commonly associated with fertility. Rabbits, after all, are well known for their ability to reproduce at impressive rates — something the philosopher Aristotle noted way back in the fourth century BCE. By the medieval and Renaissance periods, rabbits had become well established as symbols of reproduction in European art. So, while we don’t know precisely when the rabbit became involved with Easter, we do know that it had a symbolic connection with birth, and therefore rebirth — or resurrection.
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An Anglo-Saxon Deity Named Ēostre
Historians have long debated the existence of an Anglo-Saxon goddess named Ēostre (or Ostara). This Old English deity was solely described by the medieval cleric known as St. Bede the Venerable (672-735 CE), considered the “father of English history.” According to Bede’s eighth-century work The Reckoning of Time, pagan Anglo-Saxons once held feasts in Ēostre’s honor during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April). It’s possible that this mythical figure lent her name to Easter, but Bede’s account makes no mention of rabbits. The first scholarly connection made between Ēostre and bunnies came in 1874, when the German mythologist Adolf Holtzmann wrote, “The Easter Hare is inexplicable to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara.” Holtzmann was being highly speculative with no supporting evidence to connect Ēostre with an Easter hare or rabbit. Nonetheless, the connection gained some traction, and is often cited as a possible origin of the Easter Bunny.
The First Easter Hare
It’s not until the 1600s that we see the hare specifically linked to Easter, and this connection originated in Europe. Accounts from Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter hare, much like our modern tradition. At the same time, records from England also mention the Easter hare, which was traditionally hunted and eaten during the Easter feast. We cannot know for sure exactly why and how these traditions came about, but we do know that our concept of the Easter Bunny — and its role in the modern holiday — was established in parts of Europe during the 17th century.
The Easter Bunny Arrives in America
The Easter Bunny first came to America with German immigrants, possibly in the late 1600s. During colonial times, the Pennsylvania Dutch — the name given to a group of German-speaking peoples who settled primarily in Pennsylvania’s southwestern corner — came to America, bringing their own customs with them. These settlers laid the foundation for our modern Easter traditions, including the Easter Bunny. According to Alfred Shoemaker, a Pennsylvania Dutch folklorist, “The Easter rabbit is perhaps the greatest contribution the Pennsylvania Dutch have made to American life.” One German immigrant, Johann Conrad Gilbert, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1757, created the first known paintings of the Easter Bunny made on American soil, including two drawings of a leaping hare holding a basket of colorful Easter eggs. Likely created around 1778, the drawings are concrete evidence of the Easter Bunny’s arrival in America.
