Easter 2013: Why The Easter Bunny And The Eggs? The Easter Bunny's Pagan Roots

Easter Sunday is the most well-attended Sunday service of the year. Easter is a Christian holiday intended to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the 3rd day after his crucifixion at Calvary, as described in the New Testament.Today, the meaning of Easter, a lot like Christmas, has become overshadowed by modern mythologies, traditions and commercialization. Now it has come to involve colored eggs, candy, huge feasts, and people dressed up like rabbitsSo, it begs the question; why the Easter Bunny and why the eggs?Most traditions are based on the welcoming of Spring. Today's Easter Bunny is representative of much older pre-Christian Pagan traditions that were centered around Spring and fertility. The rabbit was sacred to the mythic goddess of Spring Ostara, or Eastre, which is where Easter takes its name. Rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. As for the egg? Eggs are a symbol of rebirth, and were often used in Pagan Spring celebrations. Christians then adopted the egg symbolism to represent the rebirth of Jesus Christ. The egg can also represent the tomb from which Christ arose.Rumor has it, as Christianity spread, they kept some Pagan Easter traditions to make it easier for people to convert to Christianity. It's unclear why the eggs are dyed, but some believe dyed eggs were used in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Spring festivals, and some were even given as gifts during the Spring season.