The Easter tradition of egg dyeing, though, probably originated in ancient Christian communities in Mesopotamia that colored chicken eggs red to symbolize the blood of Jesus.
The origins of the Easter Bunny
The first historical references we have to an Easter Bunny date to the 16th-century German tale. According to this legend, a mysterious creature named Oschter Haws, or Easter Hare, visited children while they slept and rewarded them for their good behavior (similar to Santa). The children made nests for the hare, which would then lay colored eggs in them.
The tale was then brought to America by Germany immigrants in the 18th century. In the United States, the hare became a rabbit and grew in prominence as books like The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Easter Bunny That Overslept (1957) were published. In 1971, ABC aired a television special calledHere Comes Peter Cottontail based on a 1957 book.
The history of why, exactly, German Protestants came to associate Easter with a magical hare is somewhat murky.
One theory is that hares were traditionally associated with new life, due to their high fertility rate. Some have theorized that there is a connection between hares and the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre — the goddess from whose name "Easter" may be derived.
however , neither rabbits nor hares lay eggs, nor are eggs involved in the biblical story of Easter.
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