Bye Bye Easter Bunny

[HagiaSophia]

The Easter bunny has hopped into the crosshairs of the PC police.

It’s a rite of Spring in most suburban shopping malls for youngsters to participate in Easter egg hunts or pose for photos with the Easter Bunny with the same fervor they had for sitting on Santa’s lap during the Christmas holiday season.

But in the name of “multiculturalism,” malls are phasing out the secular symbol of the Christian holiday.

Mall officials at Town Center in Boca Raton, Fla., admitted to caving in to concern over what could be perceived as religious promotion.

“Because we’re such a multicultural community, it’s good just to remain neutral,” mall general manager Sam Hosen said, according to the paper.

Another mall manager expressed apprehension over her decision to stick to tradition, hosting an Easter egg hunt complete with a cotton-tailed Easter bunny.

“I suppose the name Easter Bunny is fairly unusual,” Boynton Beach mall manager Andrea Horne said. “I know it’s probably not the popular thing to call it.”

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43260

 

[Genesis315]

Maybe this question should be for another thread, but what is the history behind the Easter Bunny? How did the day of the Resurrection become characterized by a day where a bunny comes and hides colored eggs? In a related note, why does a bunny have eggs in the first place and why is he hiding them?

 

[HagiaSophia]

Genesis315:

Maybe this question should be for another thread, but what is the history behind the Easter Bunny? How did the day of the Resurrection become characterized by a day where a bunny comes and hides colored eggs? In a related note, why does a bunny have eggs in the first place and why is he hiding them?

The egg has been traditionally the symbol of regeneration, of new life when spring came, pagans paid homage to Estre the goddess of the spring rites. As Christianity took over in the Roman rite, this was seen as a symbol of the Resurrection, the new life and so Easter was what it was called.

In many places, the religion feast celebrating the Resurrection retained the old name of Pascha and the Orthodox and many Eastern Catholics use this still today . In fact, in the land of the Celts that’s how one could tell if the monks/priests were Roman or old rite, whether they called it Pascha or Easter, together with their tonsures was an identifying mark.

As time went on the symbol of eggs being prominent in the commemoration of the feast took on new forms and you’ve never seen a truly decorated Easter egg unless you’ve seen the Ukranian and Russian eggs which are works of art. The Faberge eggs of course are man made works of the jewelers art and are considered some of the finest pieces of that extant today. It was the custom for the Russian Czar to present the Czarina with a new one each Easter to celebrate the feast.

I’m not quite sure about the bunnies but I believe that it was part of the pagan celebration and of course come spring, as anyone who has bunnies around knows, batches and batches of wee little cotton tails are all over the place. Much like the lamb which is served as part of the traditional Easter feast, the spring lamb of course has a very specific symbology in Christian rites.