Just how did the bunny rabbit become the secular symbol of Easter?

[Ian David]

Just how did the bunny rabbit become the secular symbol of Easter?

<snip>

Although the true origins of the Easter Bunny may remain lost in the mists of time, many point to the springtime celebrations of 13th-century Germany. One of the deities worshipped was Eostre, the goddess of spring and the dawn who has been portrayed as a comely maiden carrying a basket filled with dyed-red eggs and a pair of cuddly little baby hares.

Over time, some say, the goddess got lost — but the bunny and the eggs stuck.

"It’s really a lovely tradition," says Scot M. Guenter, professor of American studies at San Jose State. "The bunny symbolizes fecundity and the eggs represent the cycle of life."

In fact, these customs may go even further back in antiquity. Some say giving eggs in spring might trace back to the Persians and that the bunny first popped up in Celtic lore. The bottom line is that when our little children are hunting around in the grass, they may be harkening back to pagan fertility rituals. So how did these ancient rites get woven into the fabric of a Christian holiday commemorating the rebirth of Christ?

More:
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Just+bunny+rabbit+become+secular+symbol+Easter/4655476/story.html

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Wow! That's a sinister-looking Easter Bunny!

Those eyes give ME the willies, so I can only imagine how children feel about them.

[BonnieJW]

2. The eggs

come from the Passover tradition of the egg eaten during the Seder. The egg is the symbol of new life. The bunnies? I don't know; maybe there's a passage in the bible:

"And God said unto the bunny, 'Go forth and hide thy eggs...'"

[Ian David]

4. The Pagan rituals predate Passover. n/t

[elfin]

3. Nice link - also a fun ham recipe there eom

[dimbear]

5. It's been recently discovered by genetic analysis that bunnies are some

of our closest relatives in the mammalian kingdom. Think of it as a celebration of evolution.

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. We are not all that close to rabbits.

We and other primates are

1. very close to colugos ("flying lemurs" not true lemurs),

2. fairly close to treeshrews, and

3. not so close to Glires = the clade that contains rodents and lagomorphs

(Lagomorphs are rabbits, hares, and pikas.)

[dimbear]

8. I learned that right here on DU in the science section.

Couldn't be wrong.

Lagomorphs, tree shrews, that's where the division was. Something like a cat or a dog or a cow is way more distant.

My favorite close relative: flying foxes. Cool little beasts.

Another pretty close cousin: bats.

[Lionel Mandrake]

10. Wikipedia is pretty good for this sort of thing.

These are the subgroups of extant members of Eutheria (placental mammals):

Boreoeutheria, e.g. badgers, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, dolphins
Euarchontoglires, e.g. humans, monkeys, rats, hares
Laurasiatheria, e.g. cattle, whales, bats, cats

Atlantogenata, e.g. sloths, hyraxes, aardvarks, tenrecs, armadillos, anteaters
Xenarthra, e.g. armadillos, anteaters
Afrotheria, e.g. elephants, manatees

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutheria

NB: flying foxes and other bats are no closer to us than cats or dogs.

Here is a more detailed breakdown of Boreoeutheria, which contains all the animals you mentioned:

MAGNORDER BOREOEUTHERIA

Superorder Euarchontoglires (Supraprimates)

Grandorder Euarchonta
Order Scandentia: treeshrews (Southeast Asia)
Order Dermoptera: flying lemurs or colugos (Southeast Asia)
Order Primates: lemurs, bushbabies, monkeys, humans and other apes (cosmopolitan)

Grandorder Glires
Order Lagomorpha: pikas, rabbits, hares (Eurasia, Africa, Americas)
Order Rodentia: rodents (cosmopolitan)

Superorder Laurasiatheria

Order Erinaceomorpha: hedgehogs and gymnures (Eurasia, Africa, extinct in North America)
Order Soricomorpha: moles, shrews, solenodons (Eurasia, Africa, North America, northern South America)
Order Cetacea: whales, dolphins and porpoises (cosmopolitan in seas)
Order Artiodactyla: even-toed ungulates, including pigs, hippopotamus, camels, giraffe, deer, antelope, cattle, sheep, goats (cosmopolitan)
Order Chiroptera: bats (cosmopolitan)
Order Perissodactyla: odd-toed ungulates, including horses, donkeys, zebras, tapirs, and rhinoceroses (cosmopolitan)
Order Pholidota: pangolins or scaly anteaters (Africa, South and Southeast Asia)
Order Carnivora: cats, dogs, seals, weasels, bears, whales (cosmopolitan)

read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreoeutheria
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivora

[dimbear]

11. These little data points just stick, not expert in this field:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteropus

Evidently the folks I am relying on don't have too many supporters, interesting theory that flying foxes descend from primates..........

What's for sure is they're cute little devils. :)

[ZombieHorde]

6. I thought bunnies were a fertility symbol. nt

[laconicsax]

9. Maybe it was the devil's work.