Easter Bunnies
Easter to the adults may mean the time of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the time to believe in immortality, the redemption of souls and the forgiveness of sins. It is indeed a very spiritual revelation and equally wonderful elation! But all this is when the soul begins to understand the profound meaning of resurrection the belief in Life after Death. It especially begins to make sense when one attains adulthood. The profound truth now becomes understandable.
But, what of the children! What do they understand of the mysteries of Christianity and the joy of esurrection Nothing, except they have a Savior who if prayed to, will come to their aid and grant them what they desire! Christ says that one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if he is as innocent as a Child. It is this that perhaps that have urged adults to double the joy of Children. It is important to allow the Children to enjoy Life. It becomes better when Life has festivals that bring added joy. Children love new clothes, new toys, new sweetmeats and above all new friends and playmates from over yonder. Fairies, Elves, Animals and even characters like Santa Claus and Jack Frost are the kind that revives the joy, wonder, belief and innocence of Children. It is important that we keep this innocence alive in order to taste the sweetness of Spirituality. One of the best loved characters of Children all over the world is the Easter Bunny.
THE EASTER BUNNY
The Easter Bunny appears around spring time, at the time of Easter, with goodies
and gifts for the children. This tradition is largely part of the Western
Culture that induces children to believe in goodness. The Easter Bunny is
said to bring goodies for children who have been good. The Easter Bunny leaves
the goodies at the doorstep and in turn the children leave milk and cookies
for the Easter Bunny. This Easter Bunny may be a myth but most families invite
this myth into their homes to live amongst their children during Easter and
spring time. It is the symbol of a new beginning that Easter proclaims and
this message is subtly given to the children through the Easter Bunny, or
rather the Hare, and its gifts and goodies.
The Easter Bunny has its own flair of being stylish according to the tradition and culture that adopts this myth. The Rabbit or Hare can look sweet and mild, whacky and humorous or angelic and spiritual. Nevertheless the Easter Bunny holds as much thrill during Easter as Santa does during Christmas.
In the American tradition, this delightful Bunny leaves baskets of Easter eggs, candies and chocolates for the good children.
THE MYTHS OF THE EASTER BUNNY
The myth of the Easter Bunny comes from the celebration of Spring Time around that happens around the time of Easter. It is interesting to note that the Rabbit who breed one too many at a time, has become the symbol of fertility for Easter. Why Because the death stands for the death of all sins and the resurrection stands for the eternal life that returns again and again, after death. In droves, just like the Rabbi the beginning and multitude of births is carried forward through the Rabbit and The Resurrection.
However the belief of an egg-laying Rabbit appears to have come from a mixture of the eggs and the bunnies as fertility symbols. This belief pervaded the American culture in the 18th century. The myth was carried by the German immigrants who are supposed to have related to their children, the story of the Osterhase;. Hase means Hare and therefore in the Northwest European legend, the Easter Bunny is a hare and not a rabbit.
The American tradition celebrates the Easter Bunny as the Spring Bunny because of religious connotations that seemed to inhibit. But however the Spring Bunny is not as popular the Easter Bunny.
The Australian marsupial was replaced by the Easter Bunny and became known as the Easter Bilby but again is not as popular as the Easter Bunny. Selling chocolate Easter Bilbies was in order to save the Bilby of Australia. However, the Bunny continues to rule the roost even in Australia.
A neopagan tale that has been condemned by critics as not existing in the legendary records of the Easter Bunny has emerged. The Coming of Eostre, is one version of this story and appeared in the Childrens magazine Cricket. The story goes that the Goddess Esotre finds a wounded bird in the snow and in order to save the bird, she transformed it into a rabbit. However, the transformation is not complete and hence the rabbit has the ability to lay eggs. In a bid of gratitude the rabbit takes its eggs, adorns it and gives them as presents to the Goddess Esotre.
The Critics however ignore this tale as it doesn’t have any historical linking of Ostara to either the hare or the rabbit. Even storytellers like Grimm for instance have not attempted to narrate this story nor is it present in the early ritual celebrations of historic intent.
THE FAMOUS EASTER BUNNY
The Easter has become so famous that one sees this gentle and fun-loving creature in some of America’s famous and favorite activities.
The Easter Bunny is a well-loved public figure at the pro wrestling world. He even joined in the Barroom Brawl where wrestlers fought with weapons in a bar like setting.
Several appearances of the Easter Bunny were made through XEI (Rochester, New York based comedy/wrestling promotion) entertainment too!
The Easter Bunny and twin brother Daryl appeared on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This Bunny also starred in the episode Christmas Every Day hiding his Easter Eggs and leading the holiday characters Baby New Year, Cupid, etc to undo the wish to take out Santa Claus. He has a dog in a Halloween costume came to be called the Halloweenie Dog.
Again the Easter Bunny appears in Lock, Shock and Barrel and in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also stars in the Santa Clause movies.
The Bunny extends his appearances in a funny TV special where his kidnapping is being plotted by a greedy pig, and in Here Comes Peter Cottontail another Easter Television special in 1971 and later a video sequel of Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie. With the spiritual, historic and current fame that the Easter Bunny has achieved, it is natural that he be placed in our legendary characters Hall of Fame and of course, in our hearts, where he will live forever, with his chocolate eggs, cookies and candies. Vive La the Easter Bunny!
