what does a bunny have to do with Easter?
469584
Easter Hares and Rabbits: In Europe, the hare has long been a traditional symbol of Easter. (In North America, the animal is a rabbit—a close relative of the hare.) Yet The New Encyclopædia Britannica explains that the hare was “the symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt.” Thus when children hunt for Easter eggs, supposedly brought by the Easter rabbit, “this is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite.”—Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, volume 1, page 335.\n\n“Ancient pagans used the rabbit as a symbol of the abundant new life of the spring season. . . . The first record of the bunny as an Easter symbol is found in Germany about 1572,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home. Likewise, the Easter-time use of hot cross buns, brightly colored eggs, or chocolate bells has its roots in pagan religion. And, incredibly, the very name Easter (used in some languages) relates to a pagan deity. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible states that Easter was “originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.”
184644
I always get asked if the Easter bunny is real.\n\nI always tell the children to go ask their parents.
334604
It is based on Pagan traditions of fertility rites. The "rabbit" has lots of babies in the springtime. "Eggs" represent the fertility of a woman. in eating of the eggs, the woman will become fertile and hopefully have lots of kids, thus becoming like the rabbit.
234205
because Christianity has been chopped/ cut/ shredded/ and packaged for convenience\n\nhow does chocolate bunnies and Resurrection go together?
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!
343772
A stuffed Easter bunny , plastic colored eggs, baby toys, and suckers.
410271
We also call him the 'Easter Bunny' in Australia. Also we have an 'Easter Bilby', but I believe that the choclate marketers here are the only ones cashing in on this their creation.\n\nPersonally I call him 'Ostara'. (The one who brings eggs for health, wealth, and prosperity - and as a sign of fertility)\n\nHey 'bored', I live in Australia and have never seen a 'Easter Bunyip', where the hell do you by one of those.
329486
:{\nIve heard that the Easter bunny is an unfortunate hold over from previous pagan religious celebrations of birth, it goes well however with the concept of Christian rebirth
384691
Going to church for today. We did an Easter egg hunt earlier in the week with my two married sisters and their children. After three rounds of the children finding the eggs the adults hid, the fourth round was reversed, and adults had to find the (hard-boiled) eggs the children hid. It was hard! There's still one somewhere in the living room we couldn't find! Usually we celebrate Easter with reading part of the New Testament or Book of Mormon about Christ's death and resurrection. My little brother is 18 and too old for Easter baskets. My mom used to make "bunny bread" in the shape of a large bunny, or bunny rolls which included a little "tail" in the middle.
388483
I think that when everything happened with Jesus it was the first thing they thought of and out of the world. Because a bunny doesn't lay eggs so a bunny has to put them in baskets for little kids.
350758
Yep. And Easter is a pagan celebration of spring.
392495
There is a Paegan goddess of spring, named something that sounds sort of like Easter, and she is represented my the form of a rabbit that lays eggs.
408751
Easter comes from a pagan celebration for the coming of spring.(early christians adopted the celebration so more pagans would become christian).  the rabbit symbolized fertility along with eggs.  I have no clue where the whole chocolate thing came from.
607720
Definitely the Easter bunny.
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
322402
You can just ask what Easter means for them, and then tell them what it means for you (take and give). They might be more opened if they see you are really interested in what they say.
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.