We had lunch with Kelly, Chris and Emily today and I asked Emily about the Easter Bunny. She doesn’t really grasp the concept yet and I guess I can see why. The idea of an egg-laying rabbit isn’t intuitively obvious — especially when you’re two and a half and have been told all your life that eggs come from chickens, or ducks, or birds or maybe even an alligator — but never a rabbit.
Among other things, we can thank the Germans (or blame them) for the Easter Bunny. Rabbits have been associated with springtime since ancient times. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.
According to our friends Anne and Winfried, the first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany and were made of pastry and sugar. The Easter Bunny was introduced to American folklore by German settlers in the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the 1700s.
German children looked forward to the arrival of the “Oschter Haws” almost as much as they looked forward to the the coming of Christ-Kindel on Christmas. The children believed that if they were good, the Oschter Haws wold lay a nest of colored eggs. The children would build their nest in a secluded place in their house or barn — boys used their caps and girls used their bonnets to make the nests. I would guess that today’s fancy Easter baskets evolved from those early “nests.”
Happy Easter! Don’t forget the day isn’t just about chocolate bunnies….
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