How did we end up with a rabbit delivering eggs on easter?

Just been thinken...





everyone gets brought up getting told that the 'Easter Bunny' is who delivers all the chocolate eggs on Easter, but why a rabbit?just doesnt it make more sense for it to be some sought of bird(chicken) or something?How did we end up with a rabbit delivering eggs on easter?
Rabbits and eggs are both symbols of the fertility goddess Eostre/Ishtar/Ostara. Her symbol is also the moon, in which some cultures see a rabbit instead of a face. Eggs also symbolize the moon and are the ultimate symbol of creation and new life. The basket is a symbol of the womb in which this new life is carried.





The feast day is pagan and was widely celebrated way before the time of Jesus. Like pretty much all holidays, it was adopted by Christians to help get more converts. However, since the point is to celebrate new life and the hope of continuance, Christian symbols of a Resurrection day and the old pagan symbols mean the same thing. Just like Christmas, we are all celebrating the same thing, just using different symbols.How did we end up with a rabbit delivering eggs on easter?
The Easter Bunny himself was probably a creation of candy makers, who depicted him carrying baskets of sweets to children. But he has roots in a long tradition. Easter is related to the sun worshipers' rites of spring. Because of his fecundity, the hare symbolized to them the renewed fertility of earth and the abundant life the returning sun brings. In Egypt the date of Easter is set by the moon's orbit, and rabbits, because they are born with their eyes open, are connected to the ';open-eyed moon'; of Easter. The word ';Easter'; comes from a Norse goddess, Eastre or Ostara. Germans believed the hare was her sacred animal, and that it laid eggs for good children on Easter Eve.
The Easter Bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have its origins in Alsace and southwestern Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1600s. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s and were made of pastry and sugar.





The Easter Bunny was introduced to America by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the ';Oschter Haws'; (a phonetic transcription of the German Osterhase) was considered one of ';childhood's greatest pleasures,'; similar to the arrival of Kris Kringle (from the German Christkindl) on Christmas Eve.





According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The Oschter Haws would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets.
Easter is just the ';christianized'; version of the ancient seasonal festival. It was held on the equinox. The RCC changed it a bit.





The old norse had a goddess of the moon- and some people see a ';hare in the moon'; not the man as we do..





The hare seems to be holding an egg. here is a good site with the pic: http://www.ianslunarpages.org/images.htm鈥?/a>





So- the moon goddess' animal was the hare. Eggs and everything is just fertility- spring- the Sun coming back ';to bring life';





They even had ';sun-rise'; services which the Roman Catholic Church incorporated into her, too.
This fun short article should answer your question.
Well easter was about the resurection of jesus but socitey had to come up with something stupid to hide tha!t the samething with christmas!
http://ask.yahoo.com/20021108.html