# Easter and bunnies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038 "2002-12-16T07:13:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038/1 "2002-12-16T07:13:10Z")

</div>

I know it’s the completely opposite time right about now, but how did Easter get connected with bunnies and baby chicks and and eggs and such? Oh and where did this funny little word come from?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038/2 "2002-12-16T07:44:18Z")

</div>

If I haven’t been terribly misinformed, “Easter” comes from an anglo-saxon fertility goddess _Oestre_, and the Christian gloss that the holiday has now was applied to a festival that folks were just unwilling to give up.

[Here’s Brewer’s](http://www.bartleby.com/81/5586.html) on it.

The association with eggs and bunnies should be obvious, in that context.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038/3 "2002-12-16T08:10:05Z")

</div>

Oh, and while we’re about it, [this yobbo](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_009.html) has something to say on the subject, too.

> [@](#):
>
> In reality the association of Easter, eggs, and rabbits dates back to the early Christian era, when the celebration of the Resurrection became conflated with traditional spring fertility rites. Eggs and rabbits, for obvious reasons, are fertility symbols of long standing. Indeed, in the eighth century, the Venerable Bede speculated that the word “Easter” was originally the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring/dawn/fertility (although this has been disputed).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter-and-bunnies/143038/4 "2002-12-16T08:32:03Z")

</div>

oestre=oestrogen  
fertility ceremonies  
sacrifice the bunnies to her for a good crop  
🙂  
most christian celebrations from mid europe are pagan