Easter Bunny, eggs hatched from pagan tradition
BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer

Despite the rain, Easter egg hunts were held throughout the Bayshore last weekend, continuing a springtime tradition that has roots dating back at least 4,000 years, long before the onset of Christianity.

Celebrated each year on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, believed by Christians to have risen from the dead three days after he was crucified by Roman soldiers.

But what does a man rising from the dead have to do with hiding eggs and eating chocolate bunnies?

The Rev. John Fell is a theologian with a doctorate degree in sacred theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome. He is pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church, Bernardsville.

"I know it's a German term," Fell said when asked about the church's take on the Easter Bunny. "I know it was brought by German immigrants to the United States."

Germany's Jakob Grimm, of the Brothers Grimm fame, thought so too.

Grimm wrote about the origins of the Easter Bunny, or "Osterhase," in 1835, stating that both the Easter Bunny and decorated Easter eggs related back to the goddess Eostre.

According to Venerable Bede, an eighth-century Christian monk and historian, the very word "Easter" is derived from "Eostre," the ancient pagan goddess of fertility largely venerated by the Anglo-Saxons.

In Old English, Easter, or Eostre, means "Goddess of the Dawn," and she was celebrated annually on the vernal equinox, according to Bede.

The goddess' symbol was the rabbit or the hare, which many historians believe to be the origin of the modern-day Easter Bunny.

When missionaries began converting the pagans of England in the second century, the springtime festival was kept alive by changing its focus from Eostre to Christ's resurrection, according to second-century letters documented by Bede.

"There's been that long-standing tradition, when people were embracing Christianity, in order to make the transition easier," Fell explained.

Bede's historic writings contain a letter from Pope Gregory I written to St. Mellitus around 601 A.D. The letter, composed while the pope was en route to England in hopes of converting pagan Anglo-Saxons, suggests allowing pagans to continue celebrating their ancient rituals but altering the meaning of the rituals in veneration of Jesus Christ.

"To the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God," wrote the pope.

Fell likened the history of Easter to Christmas, as both are a combination of Christian veneration and pagan tradition.

Saturnalia, or "The Feast of the Rising Sun," Fell explained, was a winter festival celebrated for centuries in the old Roman Empire.

"Saturnalia was a major component of the pagan people of that time," Fell said. "Church practice was to kind of baptize it and then put a distinctive Christian [theme on it]. ... That's how Christmas gets to be at that time of year."

The egg as a symbol of rebirth and new life has been used by various ancient cultures throughout history.

"With the spring, that would certainly make sense," Fell said when asked about the origin of the egg's symbolism and its connection to Easter. "New life, the resurrection, that kind of thing."

And as for combining the resurrection of Jesus Christ with Eostre, the Goddess of the Dawn, Fell said the idea made sense.

"It makes sense at that time of the year to celebrate the sun's rebirth," Fell said. "The days are getting longer."

While most Christians consider Easter to be the most important holiday of the liturgical year, some sects reject the celebration altogether due to its possible pagan origins, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Adding to Easter's unique historic vernacular is the fact that English is the only modern language that calls the holiday Easter. Almost all other languages refer to the holiday as a variation of "Pesach," the Hebrew word for Passover. Not so in Hungary, where the holiday is translated literally as meaning, "The Buying of Meat." This refers to the end of Lent, the 40 days of fasting that lead up to Easter during which Christians traditionally abstain from meat, according to Wikipedia.