The History and Origins of the Easter Bunny Hare
We need to get one thing absolutely clear right at the start: it is not a 'bunny', it is a hare. While in popular culture in England and the US, it is the Easter bunny (or rabbit) that deposits eggs around the countryside for children to collect on Easter Sunday, the origins of this quaint practice pre-date Christianity.
There is a very simple reason for many of the Christian holy days being on the dates that they are; in order to convert non-believers (or pagans) away from their traditional feasting days and celebrations, the Church had to bargain with them. The traditional celebrations that held most sway with pagans across Europe especially were linked to the lunar movements during the year; the two vernal equinox and the longest and shortest days. The rituals, activities and deity associated with these special days were ingrained into the pre-Christian calendar and the in-coming new religion had to appeal to the masses in the same way. This is why the Winter Solstice and Christmas are so close together on the current Gregorian calendar, and why Easter only happens on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (unless the first full moon also falls on a Sunday, and in that case Easter is designated as the following Sunday). This is why the date of Easter is not static, and some years it can be towards the end of April or at the end of March.
The goddess most strongly associated with the spring equinox has many names, but generally is understood to have been called Eostra by the Saxons and other Germanic tribes. History is written by the victors, and so this same goddess is also known by her Romanised nameAndraste, though she was principally honoured by the native tribes in Britain before and during the Roman occupations. The Venerable Bede, writing many years later, described Boudicca as recognising this goddess, and particularly linking her to hares by releasing the animals from beneath her cloak just before a battle as a means for divination of the outcome. The goddess is said to have a hare as her consort, who would follow her devotedly everywhere, keep just ahead of her feet. One day the hare tripped the goddess up and in a fit of rage she grabbed the hare a threw him up into the sky. Immediately she realised that it was just an accident, but the hare was flying through the air, almost out of sight. Andraste moved the moon to catch the hare (because she is a goddess and can do things like that in folklore), and there he now sits, keeping his vigil from above as he did from below. Eostra's name was accepted by the Christian church as the name for the celebration, and today it's corrupted form is Easter.
Hares (Lepus europaeus) have long been held as mythical creatures. They are native to the British Isles and were here long before the Romans brought the smaller cousin, the rabbit, with them. Hares are lagomorphs, not rodents, and look similar to the American Jack Rabbit. Unlike rabbits, hares do not dig burrows. They make nests above ground in which to birth their young, called leverets, and this is where the origin of the Easter bunny really comes from. Because the young are found in 'nests' people assumed that hares produced eggs, but because no one ever found them, they were considered magical. Hares are largely, although not exclusively nocturnal, adding to their mysticism.
By adopting two very strong cultural traditions based around this time of year, the early Christian church managed to gently wean the masses from one belief system to another without making them forgo their feast day. However in continental Europe, it is still the Easter Hare that hides the chocolate eggs.
