why are Easter eggs and bunnies associated with Easter?
337977
Eggs are associated with Easter for a very simple reason - the egg is seen as the symbol of life (a young chick, duckling etc will grow from it). Then, it also represents Jesus's grave. So when we break the eggs we are remembering what Jesus did when he resurrected and came to life from the dead and got out from his grave (so breaking the egg is similar to Jesus opening his grave).\n\nThe Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season. (more about this one at the website below:)
338325
Rabbits and Easter eggs have about as much to do with easter as christmas and easter have to do with christianity. Absolutely nothing.On December 25 Tammuz was born, the son of Nimrod (who I believe to be Satan)& Semiramis the sun goddess. Tammuz was killed by a wild boar thats why people eat their easter ham.The sun worshipers would weep over his death every year it was celabrated the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. Eggs and rabbits were used to celibrate new life. Christmas and Easter never were Christian holidays to begin with neither is Sunday a sabbathday. Saturday is the Sabbathday.Most of the world will follow after the beast.
350758
Yep. And Easter is a pagan celebration of spring.
253879
I am not an attorney, but based upon the change from "Easter Vacation" to "Spring Break" and "Christmas Vacation" to "Winter Break" I would think it ill-advised to have much discussion about Easter in a publicly-funded school.  Because Easter is a Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ I don't know how that could be discussed in a school setting without offending non-Christian parents, atheists, and so on. \n\nPerhaps the Easter Bunny is a safe topic. The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.\n \nThe bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. And were made of pastry and sugar.  http://www.holidays.net/easter/bunny1.htm\n\nThe Easter Bunny is not a religious figure so I would think you could discuss him. I do not think, however, that you can discuss the Easter egg, as it seems to have ties to Christianity.\nSee http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8149/egg.html\n\nAltough, it depends upon which website you look at regarding colored eggs.  This site says, "Egyptians and Persians used to dye eggs in spring colors and give them to friends as a symbol of renewed life long before Christ was born." http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=102&category=life\n\nI think I'd play it safe and have a celebration of the return of spring.  :-)
1081334
Alot of people hide easter eggs. my mom and dad used to hide the baskets. My 2 brothers and I would run around looking for our baskets and if we find someone elses we couldn't tell where we found it or the Easter Bunny wouldn't come the following year! It was actually a ton of FUN!
342517
Ostara is the one I believe most closely matches Easter. She represents fertility and renewal just as spring has sprung. \n\nDid you know: Eggs were (and still are!) dyed or painted bright colors as an offering to Ostara. Dawn is the best time to invoke her. In days of old, fires were lit at dawn in her honor. It always amazes me how traditions like this survive over the millennia.---
424244
"The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern", ... are instead related to ancient names for the month of April, Eostremonat and Ostaramanoth respectively. According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, this month was dedicated to the pagan fertility goddess Eostre. The Easter Bunny is often identified as a remnant of this fertility festival, although there is no evidence of any link."\n\nIn other languages the name for "Easter" is derived from the hebrew "Pesach" for the Passover holiday (ex french: Pâques, spanish: Pascua).  Only in the Germanic languages is it based on the older holiday.
435006
"Easter" is the "goddess of fetility", she represents the new life that springs up in the springtime.  Eggs and rabbits are pretty much the ultimate symbols of fertility or birth and life.  Why do we hide them? so others can find them - it's a game.   When the pagan leaders converted to christianity, they kept their old holidays and rituals and skewed them to represent their new god.  Thus, the "new time of birth" was called a "resurrection" and the "returning of the sun" (the spring equinox) became known as 'the return of the son'.  The roots are the same though - representing a rebirth in the time of spring - thus the eggs (rebirth and fertility).
342527
edit - \nGerman 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.\n\nThe idea of an egg-laying rabbit came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhase" (also: "Oschter Haws"). "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit.\n\nOnly good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. Presumably, the Oschter Haws laid them when the children were not looking.
557818
The Easter Bunny. (needed a place to hide all those Easter eggs).
438748
most kids think easter bunny when they think of easter.  It is supposed to be a day of religion but most people eat chocolate and hide eggs.
453150
The Easter Bunny (also known as the Spring Bunny in some parts of the United States) is a fantasy or mythological rabbit which leaves gifts for children at Easter (or at springtime). It originates in Western European cultures, where it is a hare rather than a rabbit.\n\nGerman 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.\n\nThe idea of an egg-laying rabbit came to the United States in the 18th century. German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the "Osterhase" (also: "Oschter Haws"). "Hase" means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare, not a rabbit.\n\nOnly good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. Presumably, the Oschter Haws laid them when the children were not looking.\n\nA 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.\n\nEaster Hare\nThe Romans believed that all life proceeded from an egg, so the egg came to symbolize birth and rebirth. Christians regarded eggs as the seeds of life and attributed them with the symbol of Jesus' resurrection. \n\nThe rabbit was used in early Easter celebrations to symbolize fertility, perhaps because these animals give birth to multiple offspring at a time. Anglo-Saxon mythology says that Ostara changed her pet bird into a rabbit to entertain a group of children, and the rabbit laid brightly colored eggs for them. \n\nEaster was once celebrated by giving colored eggs to children and later evolved to hiding them in the grass, where they had supposedly been laid by a hare. Children referred to this Easter mascot as the "Easter Hare," which later became known as the "Easter Bunny."
224828
For those of us who believe.  Easter is when we take the time to remember/reflect the time when our Savior Jesus Christ was sacrificed on the cross in order to save our souls, so that we may be forgiven our sins and allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.
354654
It is the continuation of folk traditions from the days when Christianity was not the biggest religion in Europe.\n\nThe rabbit is the sacred animal of the Goddess Ostara (Eostre), Goddess of the Spring Equinox, for whom Easter is named (nothing Christian about the name "Easter").  The rabbit symbolizes fertility.  The male rabbit who lays eggs breaks the laws of species (mammals don't lay eggs) and sex (males don't either), to symbolize the power of the Goddess of Spring Fertility to transcend the limitations of the world.  The eggs are symbols of the soul, and the coloring of them goes back to the pre-Christian worship, at the Spring Equinox, of the sacred relationship of the soul to the fertility of the natural world.\n\nLike the Christmas Tree, when Europeans became Christian, they couldn't bear to part with their traditional folkways, so they put a thin veneer of Christianity on top.
264860
That darn Easter. Can it never make up its mind? What is a silly wabbit to do? It is always on a Sunday, so like Thanksgiving it is on different days in different years.
325506
We found our Easter baskets and ate Easter eggs, and took turns hiding the plastic ones outside, and we ate candy and had a nice fun day,then we had a wonderful Easter dinner of ham and mashed potatoes and salad.& French bread. I love Easter!
378274
Easter- of course coloring eggs, decorating cupcakes on Good Friday with other children because all of them are out of school.  \n\nChristmas-  we make ornaments,cookies for Santa, also allow your children to give away some of their toys to unfortunate children, soup kitchens