Why is bunny relevant to Easter?
463111
It is mainly because easter ocuurs during spring. But i dont know why eggs are part of it.
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!
301068
Easter is derived from an ancient Germanic name for the month of April, Eostremonat--or rather Eostre Month, in dedication to the goddess Eostre. Eostre, or Ostara was a German goddess of fertility and her return was marked by the coming of spring and the sun. The Ost in her name refers to the East--the rising of the sun. The rebirth of the day and the rebirth of the spring were her specialties, and her celebrations occured during the vernal equinox--the first day of spring. Of course calendar dates have gotten juggled about for quite a few different reasons over time and now April is no longer where it once was on the calendar at what is now March 21st.\n\nThe rabbit was a traditional symbol of the goddess because of its great fertility, and the fact that the coming of spring marked the time when all of the little bunnies were seen starting to be born.\n\nWhen Christianity became the predominant religion it was an easy transition to introduce the rebirth of the Christ figure into the already extant birth and rebirth tradition. Old ways die hard, and the bunny stuck around. \n\nAlthough there are several explanations for the eggs the Easter bunny brings, (other than eggs are another traditional symbol of birth/rebirth) the most likely is that eggs were forbidden during the fast of lent, and were decorated and eaten in abundance to mark the end of the fast.\n\nGerman protestants although breaking with Roman Catholocism liked the egg tradition and kept it. And when German immigrants came to America, they brought with them the traditions of the Osterhase (Easter hare) and his eggs.\n\nInasmuch as Christianity has stolen the ancient goddess' name for their own holiday, it seems only fitting that its original mascot still puts in an appearance each year.
302133
Easter is a holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ..
130462
Easter Sunday is April 16 this year.
394307
Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's Resurrection from the dead.
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.
714832
"Easter" is a variation of the name "Astarte" - a fertility goddess of some ancient civilization (Babylonian?  Assyrian?  Other?).  What better symbol of fertility than bunnies and eggs (I don't know why we dye them and hide them)?
440355
Easter is important because, it's the Resurrection of \n\nJesus Christ from the dead. \n\nAccording to the Bible, He walked the Earth for three days \n\nand three nights.\n\nEaster is special because, we can believe in miracles.
538875
The true meaning of Easter has nothing to do with Jesus. Some Christians decided that's when they were going to have one of their festivals because they thought that stealing Pagan dates, etc. would encourage more Pagans to convert to Christianity. Easter, or Eostre, is a Pagan godess of fertility. That's what the eggs and bunnies are all about.
326826
Actually, there is a mixture in your mind. Easter, the Resurrection story as celebrated by the Christians is a Christian celebration. However, when the Holy Roman Empire was making it's way across Europe there were several pagan holiday traditions that couldn't be stamped out, no matter how they tried. Therefore, the Catholics took a page out of the Romans' book and just adopted them into their own celebrations and glossed them over as Catholic rituals. \n\nI could go on forever with examples of these, but I'll limit myself to the Easter rituals. Easter was named after a Norse goddess named Ostara, a goddess of fertility. She had certain symbols sacred to her, the hare and the egg. During the Spring Equinox, the adult women would decorate and hide eggs for the men to find. Whomever found the woman's egg, was that woman's partner for the feasting and activities after (think fertility ritual). For this day, marriages were set aside so that the ritual could be enjoyed by all. \n\nSince the Catholics couldn't get rid of this festival entirely, they kept the Easter Bunny and the Egg Coloring and got rid of the fun stuff like the feasting, drinking and fertility ritual. \n\nAnd that's the story of the origin of the Easter Bunny and the colored eggs folks.
335062
I don't believe in the Easter Bunny. That's because I used to BE the Easter Bunny. In my youth, I took a seasonal job playing the Easter Bunny at a store. I had to wear a giant, furry rabbit suit that smelled like the worst body odor on Earth. Some of the little kids liked the big Easter Bunny, but other children were frightened, to the point that they would occasionally wet themselves. A kid piddled on my lap. It was unbelievably hot in the bunny suit, and I was sweating like a monster. Dye from some of the bunny fur seeped into my skin, temporarily discoloring it. It's one of those jobs that's interesting to add to a resume, but I don't think I'd ever do it again.
373132
Please read all it's well worth it.\n\n\nThe Origin of Easter\n\nThe name Easter, used in many lands, is not found in the Bible. The book Medieval Holidays and Festivals tells us that “the holiday is named after the pagan Goddess of the Dawn and of Spring, Eostre.” And who was this goddess? “Eostre it was who, according to the legend, opened the portals of Valhalla to receive Baldur, called the White God, because of his purity and also the Sun God, because his brow supplied light to mankind,” answers The American Book of Days. It adds: “There is no doubt that the Church in its early days adopted the old pagan customs and gave a Christian meaning to them. As the festival of Eostre was in celebration of the renewal of life in the spring it was easy to make it a celebration of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus, whose gospel they preached.”\n\nThis adoption explains how in certain lands the Easter customs, such as Easter eggs, the Easter rabbit, and hot cross buns, came about. Concerning the custom of making hot cross buns, “with their shiny brown tops marked by a . . . cross,” the book Easter and Its Customs states: “The cross was a pagan symbol long before it acquired everlasting significance from the events of the first Good Friday, and bread and cakes were sometimes marked with it in pre-Christian times.”\n\nNowhere in Scripture do we find mention of these things, nor is there any evidence that the early disciples of Jesus gave them any credence. In fact, the apostle Peter tells us to “form a longing for the unadulterated milk belonging to the word, that through it [we] may grow to salvation.” (1 Peter 2:2) So why did the churches of Christendom adopt such obviously pagan symbols into their beliefs and practices?\n\nThe book Curiosities of Popular Customs answers: “It was the invariable policy of the early Church to give a Christian significance to such of the extant pagan ceremonies as could not be rooted out. In the case of Easter the conversion was peculiarly easy. Joy at the rising of the natural sun, and at the awakening of nature from the death of winter, became joy at the rising of the Sun of righteousness, at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Some of the pagan observances which took place about the 1st of May were also shifted to correspond with the celebration of Easter.” Rather than steer clear of popular pagan customs and magical rites, the religious leaders condoned them and gave them “Christian significance.”\n\n‘But is there any harm in that?’ you may wonder. Some think not. “When a religion such as Christianity comes to a people from outside, it adopts and ‘baptizes’ some of the folk customs which derive from older religions,” said Alan W. Watts, an Episcopal chaplain, in his book Easter—Its Story and Meaning. “It selects and weaves into the liturgy folk observances which seem to signify the same eternal principles taught by the Church.” To many, the fact that their church sanctioned these observances and treated them as holy is reason enough to accept them. But important questions are being overlooked. How does God feel about these customs? Has he given us any guidelines to follow in the matter?\n\nGetting God’s Viewpoint\n\n“Easter Day, the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, is the greatest of all the festivals of the Christian Church,” said Christina Hole in her book Easter and Its Customs. Other writers concur. “No holy day or festival in the Christian year can compare in importance with Easter Sunday,” notes Robert J. Myers in the book Celebrations. That, however, raises some questions. If celebrating Easter is so important, why is there no specific command in the Bible to do so? Is there any record of Jesus’ early disciples observing Easter Sunday?\n\nIt is not that the Bible fails to give guidelines as to what should or should not be celebrated. God was very specific in this to the ancient nation of Israel, and as note
1164826
its easter bunny magic
607720
Definitely the Easter bunny.
348118
The Easter bunny is a symbol of fertility and rebirth, so I'm told. And a similar line of thought is also applied to the symbolism of Easter eggs. \n\nThe Easter bunny as an entity of itself does not exist, but it is a way to get kids interested in the holiday of Easter and as they get a little older (7+ or so), the real meaning of Easter can be introduced and comprehended by the child. \n\nI do have a vision of what I pictured the Easter bunny to look like when I was little, and it was something along the lines of the man in the Easter bunny costume that I saw at the mall. \n\nI have a lot of awesome Easter memories from my childhood. It did not hurt me to believe in both the Resurrection of Christ AND the Easter bunny. One I outgrew, the other is still with me. Happy Easter to you and your family!
504929
Easter is celebrated on the first sunday after the first full moon following the spring equonix. Because the jews used a lunar calander, we use a lunar calender, too.