What does the Easter have to do with Easter?

Answer 1

The Easter Bunny actually has nothing to do with the biblical Easter. MSNBC had a good article at the related link. The Easter Bunny, as it is called now, dates back to 13th Century Germany, where in pre-christian times they worshiped several gods and goddesses, including the goddess Eostra, who was the goddess of fertility.

Since rabbits are very fertile, and eggs represent fertility, that's how the bunnies and eggs came into play.

As with the origin of the Christmas Tree at Christmas time, the Easter Bunny was a left-over from a pagan religion that was adopted into Christianity, in order for Christianity to be more palatable to the converts (so they didn't have to give up all of their rituals).

Answer 2

• It has nothing to do with Christianity. The legend has it that there was a beautiful bird who loved the goddess Isis. Each year on the spring equinox would come and lay her colorful eggs at the feet of the goddess. The goddess promised to grant her a wish and she said she would like to be a soft cuddly bunny, but Isis loving the eggs granted her wish but continued to lay her eggs each spring.
• The word "Easter" is a distortion of the name "Estre," a pagan fertility Goddess. The early church in effect took over a pagan time of celebration, and adapted the name to suit its own needs.
• The original Christian church celebrating Christ's resurrection every week by meeting for worship on the first day of the week (upon which He rose) celebrated the Pascha, which is a celebration "of His death till He comes."
• This is the feast we are actually commanded to keep, then we fast on Friday, attend a vigil on Saturday and rejoice the morning of His resurrection (the Feast of First Fruits). But the Roman Catholic Church altered this practice first and centuries later by imposition developed a tradition of celebrating the Resurrection as the feast.
• Rabbits and eggs are pagan fertility symbols of extreme antiquity. Birds lay eggs and rabbits give birth to large litters in the early spring these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth during the spring season. Since Easter also occurs in the early spring, people brought the beloved pagan symbols into the Christian celebration of Easter. These pagan symbols have become part of the Christian tradition. They do not take anything away from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and they add to the celebration. Christianity has frequently absorbed the positive and neutral symbols of pagan religions while leaving the negative symbols behind, similar to Christmas trees and Halloween costumes.
• The English word Easter is from the Old English words Ēastre or Ēostre or Eoaste. Eostre/Eostra/Eastre was the name of a pagan Saxon goddess, goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Apparently rabbits were her favorite animal. Eggs, hares and rabbits have long been symbols of fertility. Eostra's consort was the Sun god, and it is reported that the first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was sacred to her. Going further back, there appears to be a connection between Eostra and the ancient goddess Astarte, a goddess connected with fertility and sexuality. Perhaps Eostra is the European name for the same goddess. The Greeks used the word 'Aphrodite' for the goddess Astarte. And the Romans called her Venus. According to ancient myths and legends, Astarte gave birth to Eros.
• According to one source, the ancient German goddess Ostara (Eostre in Anglo-Saxon) had a hare as a companion, and that this may have led to the 'Easter Bunny' customs. This source adds that rabbits were part of pre-Christian fertility lore.

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Answer 3

Actually, they have nothing to do with the spiritual aspect of Easter for those who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Originally, rabbits and hares were associated with Eastre, a celebration for the goddess Eastre.

Answer 4

What has become today's Easter Bunny is actually a surviving remnant of much older traditions celebrated in pre-Christian days, and still practised today by Pagans around the world. Bunnies, or rabbits, are fertility symbols, sacred to the Goddess of the Dawn, once known as Ostarra or Eostara, which is from where Easter takes its name. Due to the rabbits' ability to procreate at light speed, the rabbit is a perfect symbol for fertility, which is a focus of natural life cycles in the spring. Eggs, too, are a natural symbol for fertility - from the egg comes life.

During Spring Equinox celebrations both past and present, the focus is on Spring growth. All the blossoms on the trees, new shoots of flowers popping up above the ground, and new born animals, including the ever producing rabbit, are all signs for us to see that the season of Spring has begun and nature continues its cycle as ever before.

When Christianity began to spread, one way of getting Pagans to accept the newest religion was to overlap Christian values and ideas with current and much loved pagan customs, to attract the locals to the church and pull them away from their long practised ways of honoring and living with nature. The Easter Bunny and Egg hunts are two such carryovers that, in the beginning, had nothing to do with the Christian faith or belief in Jesus' resurrection. But these pagan ideas helped those wandering priests to get the attention of the pagans they sought to convert. Pagans around Europe loved their goddesses and symbols of life that they understood much more clearly than The Bible, which was not readily available to the common people anyway. Incorporating these pagan practices was discovered to be a key ingredient to bring more people under the church, and it made Christianity itself more acceptable. After all, the most successful missionaries are those who seek to understand the people they wish to convert by living their life without compromising anyone's beliefs. Because the Christian church celebrates the Resurrection of Christ in the spring, it made sense to them to "borrow" from Pagan Spring rites in order to make the attraction to the newer religion plausible.

The short answer is: Rabbits (and eggs) have come to be seen as symbols of new life and rebirth, and the Christian celebration of Easter is all about new life, because of Christ's resurrection, and the new life He bought for us.

Answer 5

They have virtually nothing to do with the resurrection as it as celebrated religiously. The secular practices at Easter time, including the word Easter itself, have more to do with the pagan celebrations at springtime, usually on or near the vernal equinox. The word Easter is derived from the name of thegoddess Ishtar, and the rabbits and eggs are essentially symbols of fertility, something sacred to the cults of Ishtar. There is the obvious life forceconnection between fertility and the resurrection from the dead. The Roman church has made use of other connections with pagan practice in order to highlight the breadth and appeal of Roman Catholic practice.

Answer 6

well it is a holiday which Jesus christ was ressurected but they now call it Easter and some how they have jokes about a the Easter bunny now how lame im just 11 and know that

Answer 7

bunnies have to do with Easter because of new life, like Jesus. this is because bunnies reproduce so frequently, and in large numbers.

Answer 8

In the Bible, bunnies have nothing to do with any Holy Day. However, in the man-made tradion of Easter, bunnies play an integral role - fertility and spring.

Answer 9

its the bunny of easter

Answer 10

Signs of Easter ,Jesus is main reason