The Etownian >> Campus Life
Origins of the Easter Bunny and the Evolution of Paganism
Wednesday April 08 2009
A group of small, rambunctious children outfitted in fleece, footed pajamas crawl down the stairs to find chocolate rabbits and colored plastic eggs in the early hours of the morning. The house is decorated like a child’s dream — white painted baskets overstuffed with green cellophane grass, rainbow jellybeans and assorted wrapped chocolates are scattered throughout the family room. It can only be Easter morning.Before you bite into that chocolate egg, however, remember that the Easter Bunny is not what you think. It is often supposed that the famous rabbit — glorified in the Claymation movies and made into pastel-hued stuffed animals which line local drugstores — is a Christian symbol for the holiday. However, this is false. The symbol is actually based off the Pagan tradition. Paganism “can refer to any belief which is not monotheistic,” Dr. Amy Simes, director of International Relations and associate professor of Religious Studies, said. The term Paganism, as Simes describes, comes from the Latin word “paganus,” a term for people who lived outside of civilization and was used in derogatory manner by Romans towards anyone who did not follow the state religion of Christianity.
Paganism is only one of many polytheistic religions in which practitioners believe in many gods. Also, Paganism’s roots are based in early European culture. As Christianity spread throughout the countryside, missionaries tried to include Pagan practices as much as possible so that the people would be more willing to accept Christian beliefs. The Western Pagan religion focuses on nature, gods and goddesses and a cycle that includes birth, life, death and rebirth. Though the religion has existed for centuries, it is also “one of the fastest growing religions in the West today,” Simes said.
Now, what does this have to do with chocolate rabbits and plastic eggs filled with jellybeans? Ancient Pagans believed that hares, larger versions of the rabbit, were symbols of fertility and birth. During the springtime it was “common amongst all peoples,” Simes said. “One of the most common goddesses associated with this celebration was Eostra, the name of both the month we call April and the Anglo-Saxon goddess associated with dawn. This time of year is a time of new beginnings, planting, renewing the fertility of the land and the domesticated animals.”
In addition to the hare, the egg is also a symbol of fertility in Pagan beliefs, which explains those bright pink and green eggs filled with gumballs and jellybeans. “Easter is a celebration of rebirth and resurrection, which is probably why the Christians decided to locate their celebration of the resurrection of Christ at this already existing holy time,” Simes said.
So, how did Easter blossom into a holiday filled with sweets and candy? In the 1800s, Germans began making chocolate rabbits to celebrate the holiday. When they settled in Pennsylvania, they “brought along their traditions with them, including the traditions of the Easter Bunny,” Allen Butler of associatecontent.com explained. “They called him Osterhase, or Oschter Haws, who would lay brightly colored eggs to good children who would make special nests in their caps and bonnets the night before.” From Europe and the United States, the holiday has spread throughout the world, celebrating rebirth, life and love of family. This Easter morning, whether you eat sugar-coated candies and sweets surrounded by your own friends and family, attend church, or just enjoy the season of rebirth, remember the Pagan roots that make that bunny all the more fascinating.
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