Easter eggs connect with Mary Magdalene, and chocolate ones were first marketed by the J S Fry chocolate company, but what is the origin of the Easter Bunny, the rabbit or hare that is now a popular feature at Eastertime?
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beyond rabbits=fertility=spring, you mean?– Lauren-Clear-Monica-IpsumCommented May 8, 2018 at 9:58
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Yes of course. Few questions regarding origins of specific cultural behaviours, calendrical or otherwise, can properly be answered with such statements of equality.– user1618Commented May 8, 2018 at 12:17
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1 Answer
According to the article on Easter Rabbits from Wikipedia:
Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, [...]
the Lutherans being Christian explains the following paragraph
The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times, it was widely believed (as by Pliny, Plutarch, Philostratus, and Aelian) that the hare was a hermaphrodite. The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child. It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity, as in the three hares motif. Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
This would lead me to the conclusion that it comes from it's old Cristian symbol of fertility, which is celebrated around Easter.
