The Easter Bunny and Eggs at Easter
Published on 28th March 2024
The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is of German origin just like Santa and the myth surrounding the Easter Bunny is that he shows up as a deliverer of eggs, bent on rewarding the good. The Easter Bunny first emerged in 16th-century literature and it is believed that he delivers coloured eggs only to well-behaved good children. The tradition of the bunny was brought to the U.S. by German settlers to Pennsylvania but the bunnies might not have as much to do with Easter as some people believe.
Eggs
The Easter Egg is a symbol of resurrection and continuation of life with the egg considered a natural wonder and proof of the renewal of life. Eggs occupy a special status during Easter observances. They're symbols of rebirth and renewal—life bursts forth from this otherwise plain, inanimate object that gives no hint as to what it contains. In this regard it is a handy symbol for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is is a symbol that has held this meaning long before Christianity adopted it.
Ancient Egyptians believed in a primeval egg from which the sun god hatched. Alternatively, the sun was sometimes discussed as an egg itself, laid daily by the celestial goose, Seb, the god of the earth. The Phoenix is said to have emerged from this egg. The egg is also discussed in terms of a world egg, molded by Khnum from a lump of clay on his potter's wheel .
Hinduism makes a connection between the content of the egg and the structure of the universe: for example, the shell represents the heavens, the white the air, and the yolk the earth.
In China, there are several legends that hold a cosmic egg at their center, including the idea that the first being or certain people were born of eggs. For example, the Palangs trace their ancestry to a Naga princess who laid three eggs, and the Chin will not kill the king crow because it laid the original Chin egg from which they emerged.
The Phoenix was adopted as a Christian symbol in the first century AD. It appears on funeral stones in early Christian art, churches, religious paintings, and stonework. The egg from which it rose has become our Easter egg. As with many symbols, the Easter egg has continued to shift. When the Lenten fast was adopted in the third and fourth centuries, observant Christians abstained from dairy products, including milk, cheese, butter, and eggs.