What's Up With Easter Eggs And Bunnies, Anyway?

Let's face it: the time-honored tradition of a bunny hiding eggs on Easter doesn't make much sense. Lamb is a classic part of the Easter dinner table partially because Christ is referred to as "the Lamb of God" in the Bible, but the Easter bunny and its shenanigans are perhaps one of the most confusing holiday customs in existence. Why eggs, why are they colorful, and what does a rabbit have to do with the Christian observation of the day Jesus was resurrected?

As it turns out, the eggs part of the tradition does have Christian origins. The week before Easter is considered Holy Week, and once upon a time, church leaders typically forbade folks from eating eggs during that timeframe. Any eggs that were laid during Holy Week were decorated and held until Easter, when they were presented to kiddos on the big holiday.

But what about the bunnies? Because of their high fertility rates, rabbits symbolize new life in many cultures, which fits with the Christian resurrection story. Eventually, German immigrants in the 1700s brought to America the practice of celebrating a bunny that laid eggs called "Oschter Haws" or "Osterhase." If children were well-behaved, they would be given a colorful egg from the Osterhase in the spring. To make their good nature known, little ones would construct nests for the bunny and place carrots nearby so it had something to eat while delivering gifts — similar to how folks leave out cookies for Santa Claus at Christmastime. 

In the 1800s, French and German chocolatiers began making chocolate eggs for folks to enjoy on Easter, but they were a far cry from the sweet milk chocolate versions we have today. These treats were solid and more akin to bitter-tasting dark chocolate. Eventually, producers figured out how to make the candies hollow like some of the Easter basket treats we know today, and chocolate eggs eventually shared room with chocolate bunnies.

Today, only Halloween outpaces Easter when it comes to selling the most candy for holiday celebrations. Instead of building nests littered with carrots for Oschter Haws, kiddos are typically gifted Easter baskets lined with fake grass and filled with various treats. Some folks still decorate and store hard-boiled eggs for the big day. Vibrant egg-shaped jellybeans, Cadbury Cream Eggs, and marshmallow Peeps shaped like bunnies also commonly reside inside an Easter basket. And though Kinder Surprise Eggs are technically banned in the United States, folks abroad may also include these toy-filled confections in their Easter celebrations, too. As with many historical traditions, Easter eggs and the Easter bunny have evolved with the times. Judging by candy sales in the spring, people wouldn't have it any other way.