Friday, April 3, 2009

An Easter Related Questions

Why are eggs and bunnies associated with Easter?

Religious implications aside, Easter is essentially a celebration of springtime – a time in which big rabbits make a whole lot of little rabbits and birds lay a whole lot of eggs, thus symbolizing rebirth.

The more complicated question is, why does the Easter bunny lay eggs? This strange story originated as an Anglo-Saxon legend in which Eostre (the goddess of spring) turned a frozen bird into a hare to help it survive the harsh winter. The story was passed down through generations, and by the 1700s, Dutch settlers in America were telling their children that if they were good, the Easter bunny would come to their house and lay a beautiful nest of colorful eggs. No one is sure why, but these kids really wanted colored eggs, so they went to great lengths to lure the magical bunny into their hones to lay her nest. Eventually, this led to our current celebration Easter.

Thanks to MentalFloss. More Easter related trivia to come.

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