Wake up Jesus, it's Easter!

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Mousey Girl

KB, that explains the eggs, but what about the rabbits? Is is because in spring all the animals are amourus and hump like rabbits?

To answer this, I shall quote from "Ostara: Customs, Spells, and Rituals for the Rites of Spring" by Edain McCoy.

The Anglo-Saxons hailed Eostre as the Goddess of Spring, the Greening Earth, and Fertility. Her name means "moving into the waxing sun." <snip>

One of Eostre's devotees was a small hare who wished very much to give a gift to his goddess, but he didn't know what he could possibly offer that would be of any value to her. Then one day while foraging, the hare came across a fresh egg, a very prized commodity indeed. The little hare wanted very badly to eat the egg, as it had been a long time since he had feasted on anything finer than dry grasses. Before he could take a bite of his prize, he realized that this egg might make the perfect gift for Eostre. But he pondered, Eostre could have all the eggs she wanted, anytime she wanted them. She was a goddess, a creator, the embodiment of Life itself. Giving her just any egg would never do. How, he wondered, could he make this egg a fit offering for his goddess.

The hare took the egg home and pondered how to make it as beautiful and new as Eostre made the world each spring. He began to decorate the egg. He painted it in the hues of Eostre's spring woods and placed upon the shell symbols sacred to Eostre. When he felt he could not make the egg any more beautiful, he took it to Eostre and offered it to her.

Eostre was so pleased by the little hare's sacrifice of his egg to her, and by the manner in which he decorated it for her, that she wanted everyone - especially children, who are themselves symbols of new life - to enjoy these representations of her bounty. Since that Ostara day long ago, the descendants of that hare have taken up the task of delivering decorated eggs to the world's children at spring. The are called Eostre's Bunnies, or more commonly, the Easter Bunny.