First thing’s first: wanna be pen pals?
Very infrequently, I send letters, mail art, cards, tiny gifts and other garbage through the mail. I also send emails! And I’d love to send ‘em to you! If you’re into that idea, please fill out this form. (If you’re uncomfortable using a Google Form, get in touch with me via social media and we’ll work out the deets!)
Like most holidays, I love Easter. It’s got a tight color palette, a rad mascot and themed candy. What more could you want?! We’ll get into some of the specific traditions in future dispatches, but right now, we gotta talk about that chubby bunny.
The “Easter hare” originated with German Lutherans. In true Deutsche fashion, he judged whether children were impish or admirable. That’s what I love about Easter: the judgement.
Why bunnies? Uhm... It was long believed that rabbits were hermaphroditic and able to reproduce without the loss of virginity (I have a lot of questions about this). Since Jesus was born to a virgin, of course rabbits would get brought into it. At the same time, they have always been symbols of fertility due to their prodigious reproduction (and, as it turns out, prodigious fuckin’. Unlike Mary.) So that associated them to springtime. (Fun fact: the March Hare was only mad because he was very, very horny.)
Why eggs? This is a two parter. First, they’re an obvious symbol of birth and rebirth. Which was really appealing to Christians and the Easter narrative.
But secondly? Many Christians abstained from eggs during the Lenten fast, so they’d feast on them before and after. A custom arose where children would go door-to-door begging for eggs the Saturday before Lent began and be given – I assume? – boiled eggs to snack on. Having raised chickens, I’m going to posit that this was probably to help clear the eggs out of the house, anticipating a 40-day egg hoarding situation.
But why the hell would a bunny have eggs? Yeah, it’s a weird one. But the tradition of the Easter hare bringing eggs to children dates back before 1682, when a botanist mentioned the tradition in a pamphlet about Easter eggs. Other sources suggest origins as far back as the 13th century.
Some insist that this tradition stems from the pagan goddess Eostre/Ostara. The myth goes that she had a bird that she turned into a rabbit, so the rabbit would lay eggs and BOOM, BABEY! Easter explained! Eostre was associated with many animals, but the specific bird/bunny connection wasn’t seen until sometime in the 19th century, and even that reference is cloudy. While Easter adopts many pagan vernal equinox traditions, this ain’t it.
To make everyone more comfortable, Cadbury insists that they hold tryouts every year and the bunny just wins. (Cute family story: because of this lonnnnng-running commercial, we always say, “Easser bunny! bok bok!” The Cadbury Creme Egg was introduced in 1963. And yes, they’ve gotten smaller – you haven’t gotten bigger.)
Yeah! Good point. Why chocolate bunnies and eggs? Aha, back to Lent. Chocolate is still considered a prohibited luxury bite among many who do the whole Lenten fast thing. Putting chocolate in an Easter basket would be a real treat. And it’s only natural that they took the shape of the holiday’s symbols. Chocolate bunnies took off in 19th century America, becoming common Easter treats by the 1920s.
Why are the most chocolate bunnies hollow? They’re easier to eat… and cheaper to make, while giving the perception of being special enough to justify a higher price tag.
Is the Easter bunny’s name really Peter Cottontail? Not remotely. Peter Cottontail was the assumed name of one Peter Rabbit (1914), who decided that his given name was just too plain. The name Peter Cottontail was used in Gene Autry’s song, a book about the Easter Bunny and a subsequent TV special. But like. It’s Peter Rabbit’s stage name. Please respect his drag.
Okay, but why are so many Easter bunny costumes so horrifying? I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I mean, a giant anthropomorphized rabbit is always going to be somewhat unsettling. And the eyes. The eyes are so often what we got wrong. So very wrong…
"Unlike Mary" Or maybe exactly like Mary. 😁