Over the last few weeks, I’ve been researching questions about the origins of various Easter observances, traditions, and practices. As I’ve progressed, I’ve had folks approach me and add their own curiosities to the list. There is one question, which I’ve alluded to in other articles but have avoided mainly because I haven’t been able to come up with a conclusive (or even vaguely satisfying) answer. “Where did the Easter rabbit come from?” Like so many other traditions we observe today, no one is really sure. Worse, the research that exists out there is lean and subject to wild conjecture. So, where did the Easter bunny come from?
One of the most common answers I’ve come across is limited to how it came to America. The earliest records of the Easter rabbit in the United States involves German immigrants introducing the osterhase (Easter rabbit), particularly those who settled in Pennsylvania. Chocolate rabbits weren’t invented until the 1850s in Germany and France.
The origin of the custom itself is a little more obscure. The most popular theory has to do with the pagan goddess Oestre. The argument goes that Oestre, who was associated with spring, was often associated with eggs and rabbits. Further, the name of the goddess is very similar to the German word for Easter. Thus, some folks have argued that she is the origin of the name “Easter and the rabbit/egg tradition. I addressed the origin of the name “Easter” in last week’s article and the linguistic problems with this theory. Regarding Oester being the source of other customs, the biggest problem is that Oestre was only mentioned by one source, and that was only a paragraph related to the calendar research done by a monk. No other sources mention her. The other ideas regarding the theory are a mix of conjecture and an oral tradition documented in the 1850s. More than likely, Oestre was a minor pagan deity worshipped regionally and little else. The idea that she is the origin of the rabbit tradition is unlikely.
A far stronger explanation for the origin of the rabbit’s association with the resurrection begins in ancient history. It is well documented that ancients commonly held the belief that rabbits were hermaphroditic (meaning they can reproduce individually without a partner). Notable ancient Roman scholars such as Pliny, Plutarch, Aelian, and Philostratus all wrote about the belief, though there were many others. The belief that female rabbits could reproduce without sex seems to have resulted in rabbits being associated with the Virgin Mary. Often rabbits turn up in European art depicting the Christ child and Mary. Rabbits also began to turn up as artistic additions to illuminated manuscripts (embellished with art and flourishes) in the medieval era. The theory goes that the symbol of the rabbit/Mary later became connected to the egg/resurrection symbolism (also discussed in a previous article). This would explain why “egg laying rabbits” arose as a German children’s tradition for Easter. I would argue that the strength of this theory is in its association with known writings and art history.
Ultimately, the evidence for the origin of Easter rabbit tradition is far from conclusive. I’d also argue that symbols have value based on the larger ideas they represent. For us, this means that knowing some of the early associations can make the various Easter traditions into valuable teaching tools, which we see evidenced in the use of Easter egg hunts during the reformation and even in their origin (see earlier articles on the topic).
