Musings: What’s With The Easter Bunny?
“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness” Floyd W. Tomkins
Musings: What's With The Easter Bunny?
Musings: What's With The Easter Bunny?
Saving the Easter Bunny
A man was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw the Easter Bunny hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the Bunny, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of his car and was hit. The basket of eggs went flying all over the place.
The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to see what had become of the Bunny carrying the basket. Much to his dismay, the colorful Bunny was dead. The driver felt guilty and began to cry.
A woman driving down the same highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong. Contd Below
Have you ever wondered how the Easter Bunny became part of the Easter Resurrection celebrations? Or even what started those colorful Easter egg hunts that children enjoy? According to notes on Wikipedia, the first mention of a friendly bunny bearing gifts of eggs was found in Georg Franck von Frankenau‘s De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682. It was a reference to an Alsace tradition. But how did that become so closely tied to Easter? Apparently, the hare/rabbit was popular in medieval art and it was believed that they could reproduce with losing their virginity… sort of like the immaculate conception of our Virgin Mary. And there is some relevance to rabbits and the holy trinity which didn’t fully register in my mind. It gets quite interesting as we dig deeper. Oh, do enjoy the story and jokes below… 🙂
“Easter is all about a wise rabbit trying to steal the lead role from Jesus by using chocolate eggs to fool people.” Tewin Sham
Musings: What's With The Easter Bunny?
“I feel terrible,” he explained, “I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny and killed it. There may not be an Easter because of me. What should I do?”
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew exactly what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead Bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can onto the little furry animal.
Miraculously the Easter Bunny came to back life, jumped up, picked up the spilled eggs and candy, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped on down the road. 50 yards away the Easter Bunny stopped, turned around, waved and hopped on down the road another 50 yards, turned, waved, hopped another 50 yards and waved again!
The man was astonished. He said to the woman, “What in heaven’s name is in your spray can? What was it that you sprayed on the Easter Bunny?” The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: “Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.” Anon
Another important part of the story is that hares/rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility and new birth; birds lay eggs and rabbits/hares give birth in the early spring, solidifying their symbols as representative of fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox. Since Easter falls around the same time, the ancients made a connection between the two and hence our mutual celebration of Easter, bunny rabbits, colorful eggs and yes, chocolates… Why the chocolates? Perhaps the fact that chocolates are a popular holiday gift and a special treat that found its way into our hearts and cravings, might account for its popularity at Easter too. Come back for more. Happy Easter! 🙂 More Below…
“It is the hour to rend thy chains,The blossom time of souls” Katherine Lee Bates
Musings: What's With The Easter Bunny?
What do Easter Bunny helpers get for making a basket? A: Two points, just like anyone else.
Good Idea: Finding Easter eggs on Easter. Bad Idea: Finding Easter eggs on Xmas.
How can you find the Easter bunny? A: Eggs (x) marks the spot.
How does the Easter bunny paint all the Easter eggs? A: She hires Santa’s elves during off-season.
Why was the Easter Bunny so upset? A: He was having a bad hare day!
What is the difference between a crazy bunny and a counterfeit banknote? One is bad money and the other is a mad bunny!
Why did the Easter egg hide? He was a little chicken!
Why is a bunny the luckiest animal in the world? It has four rabbits’ feet!
What do you call a bunny with a large brain? Egghead!
What did the bunny want to do when he grew up? Join the Hare Force.
How do you make a rabbit stew? Make it wait for three hours!
What did the gray rabbit say to the blue rabbit? Cheer up!
The custom of coloring eggs goes way back and isn’t completely clear or known. However, members of the Eastern Orthodox Church chose the color red for their eggs to show connections to the death of Jesus. Perhaps because some Christians skipped eggs for Lent, there was more to use during Easter. Gifting good kids with colorful eggs during this season became another way to get them interested in behaving and in Easter. While the Easter bunny gained popularity in Europe, it didn’t come to the U.S. until the 18th century. My take is that the Easter bunny was adopted as a way to make a somber event palatable to children. With colorful eggs and chocolate bunnies, we can share the resurrection of Jesus story with our children… What are your thoughts? Have you read about the Easter Bunny? Do you incorporate it into your Easter holiday traditions? Do you have any favorite Easter games? Do share! Thank you. 😉
*Please bear with me as I continue to catch up on your blogs and commenting… Thank you all for your patience! 🙂
Positive Motivation Tip: The Easter Bunny adds humor to a special religious celebration… Perhaps reminding us to laugh a little and enjoy our life.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All photos chocolate bunnies & eggs, Easter bunny card 1907, hare and eggs, via Wikipedia and/or bowl of colorful eggs, by St Staling via Flickr Bunny Jokes via various sources: Tweepi.com and EasterHumor.com
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
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Fascinating and amusing 🙂
Cute~I especially enjoyed the hare spray/permanent wave!
the extract:
“Easter is all about a wise rabbit
trying to steal the lead role from Jesus
by using chocolate eggs to fool people.”
Tewin Sham
I live in a Polish neighborhood, and they are really serious about Easter. I never realized what a morbid season it is, starting way back at ash Wednesday. There are so many rules and beliefs surrounding Easter, more so than Christmas, at least around here. I must say, that the Easter Bunny did not help my understanding of what Easter is. I grew up in a atheist home, but we still celebrated the holidays because the holidays have become part of American Culture. The Easter bunny offers no clues to what Easter is really about…Jesus, Murder, Resurrection…good lord, who would have thought what drama was hidden behind the Easter bunny! Happy Easter Elizabeth!
Most holidays and festivals have a really ancient history – when religions fade, new religions normally take over their holy places and special days, it’s just easier that way.
Amusing story & jokes. The Easter Bunny, coloring eggs, egg hunts and Easter flowers are fun parts of the celebration for what is really the most important Christian celebration on the calendar.
How cute. Happy Easter
I’m usually a more serious person, but the dead bunny revived by hair spray joke was funny! It’s good to look at the history of traditions, to separate our silliness from real spirituality.
I’m hooting and hopping with laughter at your very special Easter Edition. Thanks for adding to the joy of the holiday. 🙂
I love your light and playful take on the bunny at Easter. Like you, I feel some of the connections are unclear and I agree with you that it was a way to get kids into a somber story and celebration. I’m still laughing at that permanent wave!!
B
Silliness is good 😀
This topic actually came up Sunday at church…now I have some info for my friends.
Interesting, Elizabeth. Neither the Easter Bunny nor Easter eggs caught on here. What did was a version of hot cross buns, which we still make.
Hilarious! Living in the only catholic country in Asia, we take our holy week and Easter pretty seriously (fasting, abstinence, actual nailing to the cross). I couldn’t figure out what the obsession on the bunny and the eggs are about. Question from a non-American, what do you do with all those eggs after you’ve colored them?
I have no idea what people do with them. My memory is of throwing them out… so much for that one, eh? 😆
Hair spray, permanent wave — very funny!
I like the Easter Bunny but not the damn rodents in my yard that are eating all of my plants!
Never thought much about the history! Thanks for the lesson. Hope you had a lovely Easter!
Rabbits and eggs are timeless symbols of new life, new birth, resurrection and abundance that all people everywhere can understand. They serve, for me, as excellent reminders of the Resurrection and the LIfe with Him!
Very interesting article, Elizabeth. I didn’t know ANY of that, really. so it was intriguing to learn from your research!