By Corey Bennett
All over the world, people are looking forward to Easter. The basket is full of chocolate and painted eggs that the Easter bunny will leave around their yard for the kids to look for and try to find.
But, why are these things part of Easter and what do they have in common with the resurrection of Jesus? In all honesty, they have nothing to do with each other.
The Easter gifts, fluffy bunnies, yellow chicks, and painted Easter eggs most likely stem from Pagan roots. They were incorporated into the Easter celebration, unlike the tradition of honoring Jesus and the day that he rose from the dead. However, they are connected by the idea that eggs are a lot like Jesus being resurrected. The eggs, like Jesus, represent rebirth, in the idea that life seems to emerge from nothing`. The dyeing of eggs dates back to the ancient Middle East where the people there would use onion skins to color the eggs.
One theory about the origins of the Easter Bunny itself is that “it came from very early Pagan celebrations about the vernal equinox”, says Time magazine. They celebrated springtime and the renewal of life. The Pagans also celebrated the goddess of dawn and fertility, Eostre. She was commonly represented by the hare or an egg. When Christianity spread throughout Europe, both the celebration of the equinox and Christ’ resurrection connected. The connection between these two traditions would make the transition from Pagan to Christianity almost inevitable.
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