Most people know that Martin Luther kick started the Reformation and got Protestantism rolling. Not too many people know that Luther also inadvertently helped commercialize Easter. It was Martin Luther’s Lutherans who came up with that cute little critter known as the Easter Bunny.
According to history.com “the Easter bunny reportedly was introduced to America by the German immigrants who brought over their stories of an egg-laying hare.” Wikipedia, while not one of my favorite sources for information, is a bit more pointed: “Originating among German Lutherans, the “Easter Hare” originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide.”
A German travel website also claims credit for the invention of the Easter Bunny and the name “Easter” as well:
“From the name to the bunny, it’s all German. The name Easter was first appropriated by the Christian calendar. First it was the pagan festival Ostara, celebrated on the vernal equinox, around March 21 in the Northern hemisphere. Ostara was named for the pagan goddess of spring, Eostre. According to legend, she once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could lay eggs. And so it became the Easter Bunny.
“The bunny as a symbol for Easter is first mentioned in writings in 16th century Germany.”
Decorated eggs seem to have found their way into Easter Bunny lore as a result of an older tradition, however. Decorating eggs for Easter is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century, according to some sources. One explanation for this custom is that eggs were formerly a forbidden food during the Lenten season. As such people painted and decorated eggs to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting. They would then eat them on Easter as a celebration.
Baskets, Jellybeans, and Peeps
Also according to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania. They brought with them their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs. Eventually, the nests became baskets and the custom spread across the U.S. The Easter Bunny’s morning deliveries also expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts. Some children even left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping.
Chocolate Easter bunnies, chocolate covered marshmallow eggs, jelly beans and most recently, Peeps, eventually became part of the mix of goodies. Halloween is still number one when it comes to candy sales, but Easter is now the second best-selling candy holiday in America.
It would seem that it’s just not enough for religious holidays to stay religious holidays anymore. They have to be commercialized in some way, to keep the economy chugging along.
Religious Holy Days or secular holidays?
We tell ourselves that a decorated egg is a symbol of new life and so it ties into Jesus’ Resurrection, or that the evergreen trees we put up at Christmas symbolize eternal life. But the reality is that our religious holidays are gradually losing their religious significance. They are becoming secular holidays, more so than religious ones, that seem to be critical that to our economic well-being.
In the early Middle Ages, before the Reformation, the secular calendar wasn’t even in vogue. As James Hitchcock notes in History of the Catholic Church, “A town, for example, would schedule a trade fair not on September 29 but on “Michaelmas.” People lived primarily in sacred time, in accord with a calendar that commemorated the life of Christ and of His saints on particular days.”
I’m not suggesting a return to the liturgical calendar for marking the days of the year. We can’t turn back time, and, besides that, life in the Middle Ages wasn’t all that great. But I do wonder what would happen if we all decided to tone down our participation in the secular/economic aspects of religious holidays? Would the economy really suffer all that much?
11 thoughts on “The Easter Bunny is a Protestant”
The current bishop of Rome is the Easter bunny. Or, would be if he could be.
It was always my understanding that Protestantism started when the pope refused to grant King Henry VIII an annulment.
Also, I was taught that the origin of the Easter bunny was because there was a rabbit outside of Jesus’s tomb.
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Dating events from Holy Days was common as recently as November 26th 1607. A copyright entry in the Stationers’ Register reads, “Master William Shakespeare his historye of Kinge Lear, as yt was played before the Kinges maiestie at Whitehall, vppon Sainct Stephens night at Christmas last by his maiesties servants playinge vsually at the Globe on the Banksyde.”
It seems a shame how we have capitulated to secularism. We say, “Put Christ back into Christmas.”, but we no longer celebrate the Twelfth Day of Christmas, having moved the Epiphany to the second Sunday after. We should now call another play, ‘January 6th or What You Will’. Shamefully, the local children go to the parish school on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, rather than celebrate the HoliDay.
thank-you for this. It seems like after Luther broke away, he reached back into the pagan roots of Germany to replace what was given up from splitting from the Catholic Church. So in 500 years now, the fruit of the reformation is the secularizations of religious holy days.
Hey Gene, I enjoyed your article. Christians often do blur the celebration of Holy days, but I still love Christmas greens and lights. However, I won’t listen to secular Christmas songs (except Nat King Cole’s “Chestnuts” – I blame my dad for that one…) and I love Manger scenes. We need these reminders to focus on what the Resurrection is all about. Oh, I’ll take your Easter candy… Especially if you have any Gertrude Hawk Peanut Butter Smidgens… () {¦¬)
In the light of human development would you feel it proper to expose 3,4 and 5 year old children to a crucified, beaten and bloody god-man and an empty grave …. beyond the scope to their psychological understanding. I would prefer bunnies, chicks, ducklings and eggs symbolizing new life of the spring., save the former to time they can understand.
Lying to them for years until they are around 10 years old is sooo… much better.
Let me be blunt, exposing very young children to the brutality of the passion and their inability to understand resurrection, is not lying….it is providing information when a child is ready developmentally to receive it and integrate it into their lives…..otherwise it s tha matter of nightmares, bad dreams and fear. Quite dastardly thinking…. A lie is the tell of a fact that one knows to be untrue …providing information at a developmently appropriate age is not a lie …it’s respectful of human psychological development.
I know several 3,4 and 5 year old children in my parish – and several of the 4 year old have asked “why did Jesus die”? And you explain it to them…..you don’t need the “bloody” details (think St Paul….feed them milk first until they can stomach meat!!)..don’t tell them some story of a bunny…it’s not biblical. Why would any earnest, practical and practicing catholic – whether a parent or catechist – withhold the truth of the good news to a child who inquires?
The start of this “discussion” should begin thus: What exactly is your point here, Mr.Van Son??