The Easter Bunny

Why did bunnies and chickens become symbols of Easter? How was Easter celebrated in earlier times? What traditions do we have now? What happens outside the White House every Easter?

Accessibility icon The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny

The bunny rabbit is a symbol of Easter. It lays eggs in many colors and hides them around the house or in the garden. On Easter Day, the task is to find as many eggs as possible. The eggs are made of chocolate or cardboard, and  filled with sweets.

The Easter Bunny was first written about in Germany in 1682 and in a children’s song from Switzerland in 1789, but it is unknown when the tradition actually started. Searching for Easter eggs started in the early 18th century in many European cities. This shows that it is an old tradition. Why does the Easter Bunny hide eggs?

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Why does the Easter Bunny hide eggs?

There are several theories as to why the bunny hides eggs at Easter. The theories are based on myths and hypotheses, but we can’t be certain of the background of the Easter Bunny.

From bird to bunny

In German, Easter is called “Ostern”. The names Easter and “Ostern” come from a Greek goddess named Ostara.

From Greek mythology, Ostara helps the bird Lepus to become a bunny. The god Orion had broken all the eggs, and Lepus asked for help to escape. Ostara made her into a bunny, but Lepus couldn’t lay eggs any longer. So it only became allowed during the Easter holiday.

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Far too many eggs

European protestant cities started a tradition at the beginning of the 16th century. Early on Easter morning, the children were to search for Easter eggs in the garden. There were so many eggs that people started to question where they all came from.

Chickens usually lay one egg a day, but the hare usually has many bunnies. So the Easter Bunny got blamed for all the eggs.

Children know the difference between chickens and hares, so the explanation wasn’t good. Still, it became a tradition because the Protestants did not want to teach the children the truth. The truth was that the Catholic practice of fasting made the eggs pile up. The Protestants didn’t want their children to know about fasting.

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The Easter Bunny in Norway

Many people think that the tradition of the Easter Bunny started in the United States. American toy and sweets manufactures marketed the Easter Bunny in the 20th century, and gave it the name “the Easter Bunny”

But a woman in Trondheim wrote that they played with Easter Bunnies at the start of the 19th century. The children were convinced that the Easter Bunny was real.

Egg rolling outside of the White House

In several countries, there is a tradition to roll eggs on Easter Monday. This is a symbol of how the stone on the grave of Jesus was rolled away.

Egg rolling outside the White House in 1929. ⮕

Every year, children are invited to the White House to take part in the egg rolling. They roll eggs on the grass together with the Presidential family and the Easter Bunny.

The President has invited people to egg rolling since 1878. It is a tradition and is only canceled if special things occur, like the covid pandemic or if the weather is really bad.

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The Easter Chicken

The Easter chicken is very popular in Nordic countries. In the US and the rest of Europe, the Easter Bunny is more popular.

The chicken and the egg are symbols of new life. In the spring, the chicken lays a lot of eggs, more than during the darker months. This is why we eat a lot of eggs at Easter. The little chicken that breaks out of the eggshell is also a symbol of Jesus who broke out of his grave on Easter Sunday.

The Easter Chicken is very common to decorate with at Easter. You can find it in all kinds of decorations.

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Påskekylling
Påskekylling

Sacrificial lamb

In the Book of Genesis, we can read about when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Moses rescued them. But the pharaoh would not let them go, so God sent ten plagues over the country. One thing was that all firstborn Egyptian children were killed. The Jews needed to kill a lamb and spread the blood on door frames to show that they were Jews. The lamb became a sacrifice to save the lives of others.

Pesach 

Pesach is the Jewish Easter. The Jews sacrificed lambs in the Temple of Jerusalem. The lamb was eaten with different herbs and bread on the same night. This tradition stopped after the Temple burned down in AD 70.

The Jews no longer slaughter Easter lambs but use lamb shankbones as a symbol during their traditional meal.

Lamb of God

In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist calls Jesus the “Lamb of God.” He had all the sins of the world on his shoulders and became the new “sacrificial lamb.” Christians shouldn’t have to sacrifice to God, because Jesus was the last sacrifice that opened the way to God.

Easter meal

Many people eat lamb at Easter, but not for religious reasons. It has become a tradition.

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Saueflokk på vei til slakting
Saueflokk på vei til slakting

The Easter witch

Old stories tell us about the Easter witch. The Easter witch is most common in Sweden and Finland. On Thursday before Easter, the Easter witches fly on broomsticks to Blockula to meet the Devil. On Friday, the witches create chaos. People burn large fires to protect themselves. This tradition came from the Netherlands in the 18th century.

Swedish and Finnish Easter is very different from that in Norway. They eat more fish, and the children dress up as witches and go from house to house to get sweets. Some people also hide things that the witches can use to fly away.

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Heks
Heks

Norwegian Easter in numbers

Easter is important for most people in Norway. Here is what is most important:

About half of the Norwegians travel to cabins at Easter. Over 1 million people watch the Easter quiz on NRK and watch stories about crime on TV. Large amounts of crime books and quiz books are sold in this period. Before Easter, they sell better than usual.

Only about 4 percent go to church during Easter. Easter is a moving holiday, and Easter Day can fall on 35 different dates. At Easter, Norwegians eat 24 million eggs and 300 tonnes of bacon. Norwegians eat three Kvikk Lunsj each during Easter and one orange daily.

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Easter Island

Easter Island is an island in the Pacific Ocean and belongs to Chile. It is most famous for its 887 statues called moai. The island got its name from European visitors. Other local names are Rapa Nui (Great Rapa), Te Pito o te Henúa (Navel of the world) or Mata-ki-te-Rangi (Eyes to the sky).

People started to settle down there in the 13th Century. The Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl thought that the first people came to the island in the 1950s from America. Nothing proves this theory, and the people are more likely to have come from Asia. Only a few hundred people live on the island today.

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Sources:

  • Thuesen, Nils Petter; Thorsby, Erik Stein: Påskeøya i Store norske leksikon på snl.no.
    Hentet 24. februar 2021 fra https://snl.no/påskeøya

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