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The origins of the Easter Rabbit
and of Easter Eggs
It is fun to wonder about how certain Christian customs originate. Notable is the paradox in our Easter tradition that seems to support the fact that Rabbits Lay Eggs! How strange is that! Obviously someone must have missed hearing some practical “facts of life.”
The word “Easter” derives from the name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility — Eastre. (Our word, “east” is also related to this deity’s name.)
In pre-Christian England, Eastre’s festival was held on the Vernal Equinox (the first day of Spring), about the same time as Christianity celebrated the Festival of Christ’s Resurrection. The newly converted English Christians took over the old pagan festival, celebrated it as the Festival of Christ’s Resurrection, and by attaching their old pagan goddess’s name to it, probably held on to a nostalgic tradition which made the transition easier. Ultimately the “Feast of Eastre” became the “Feast of Easter.”
But how did an “Egg-Laying Easter Bunny” come about?
There was a legend about Eastre, well known to the ancient English, that once she came upon an injured bird. For some reason, the only way she could save the bird was to turn it into a four-footed creature known for its prolific fertility — the hare. The little bird survived in its new shape as a hare, but kept its ability to build nests and lay eggs. It was a very small jump indeed (no pun intended!) to convert this hare into today’s beloved “Easter Bunny,” able to lay eggs in a very “non-bunny” fashion!
The symbolic meaning of eggs
Eggs themselves have long represented fertility and consequently "rebirth." It was natural, because of this emphasis on "rebirth," that eggs became associated with Easter, the Festival of Our Lord’s Resurrection.But when and where the egg first received this connotation of "rebirth" is so ancient that historians have no idea when it first began.
圖片參考：http://l.yimg.com/f/i/tw/ugc/rte/smiley_1.gif



2009-04-16 10:56:06 補充：
It is of interest that the Ancient Persians, Hindus and Egyptians even believed that the world itself began as a single egg.

2009-04-16 10:56:33 補充：
The coloring of eggs

The mythology of Eastre relates that the bird — become rabbit — was so grateful to the goddess for saving it's life, that he would decorate eggs that he laid and gave them Eastre as gifts. In medieval times,

2009-04-16 10:56:49 補充：
Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and traditionally given at Easter to the servants. In Germany eggs were presents given to children along with other Easter gifts.

2009-04-16 10:57:22 補充：
Different cultures have developed their own ways of decorating Easter eggs. Crimson eggs, to honor the blood of Christ, are exchanged in Greece.

2009-04-16 10:57:49 補充：
In parts of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Maundy Thursday.
The Slavic people decorate their eggs in special patterns of gold and silver.

2009-04-16 10:57:55 補充：
Austrian artists design patterns by fastening ferns and tiny plants around the eggs, which are then boiled. The plants are removed revealing a striking white pattern.

2009-04-16 10:58:25 補充：
A number of eggs are made in the distinctive manner called Pysanki (which means: to design or, to write).
Melted beeswax is applied to the fresh white egg which is then dipped in successive baths of dye.

2009-04-16 10:58:32 補充：
After each dip, wax is painted over the area where the preceding color is to remain. Eventually a complex pattern of lines and colors emerges into a work of art.

2009-04-16 10:58:52 補充：
In Germany and other countries, eggs used for cooking were not broken, the contents removed by piercing the end of each egg with a needle and blowing the contents into a bowl.

2009-04-16 10:59:13 補充：
The hollow eggs were dyed and hung from shrubs and trees during Easter Week. Armenians decorate these hollow eggs with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other religious designs.

2009-04-16 11:01:36 補充：
For more details go to
http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooe.html