The Easter Bunny is German
Our story begins with Eostre, a Germanic goddess worshipped by pagans in pre-Christian Europe. Eostre was known as "the Goddess of the Dawn," and ancient believers would hold a big festival around the time of the Spring Equinox each year in her honor.
According to scholars, these festivals were marked by feasts, giant bonfires, and sword dances in celebration of renewed life and light.
This welcoming of spring would slowly be transformed into a Christian holiday over time (more on that below, but there's a clue in the name here: "Easter" is widely understood to be derived directly from "Eostre").
So wait, where did the eggs come from? A modern spin by Big Chocolateā¢ to boost sales?
Scholars believe that Easter eggs can be traced all the way back to the goddess herself.
A popular legend tells the story of Eostre entertaining a group of children. As part of the demonstration, she transformed her pet bird into a pet rabbit. The catch? To the astonishment of the audience, this rabbit could still lay eggs like a bird.
And thus, rabbits and eggs become inexorably tied to the Easter tradition.
The story evolved over hundreds of years, eventually morphing into the legend of the āOsterhaseā ā an egg-laying hare who produced eggs and hid them around homes and gardens for children to find on Easter morning.
