I get that Easter in the US is a hodgepodge of Christian beliefs and pagan fertility festivals. But how did the rabbit and the eggs come together into a unified symbol? You don’t often see one without the other now.
Surely the ancients didn’t believe rabbits come from chicken eggs. Did the two animals even cohabitate in the same areas during biblical times? Or is all of this a modern, commercialized reinterpretation?
Eggs and rabbits both are, historically, symbols of fertility and new life. They were both apparently part of pagan spring rituals, and got folded into the Christian Easter holiday.
The idea of the Easter Bunny, and its connection to eggs, appears to be a much more recent thing.
Jim Gaffigan explains:
Didn’t Cecil Adams address this question in one of his columns?
He did, at least in part:
Bunnies do not lay eggs, they just hide them and then children search them out.
Rabbit eggs are about the same size as chicken eggs, but are much more brightly colored.
It’s all a nefarious rabbit scheme to lure people to the lair of their master, the Rabbit of Caerbannog (I’m going to guess most here know what that is).
ETA: If you don’t: Rabbit of Caerbannog - Wikipedia
Just need a Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
Consult the Book of Armaments.
“Now, I’ve noticed a tendency for this thread to get rather silly.”
This is the funniest take on Easter I have ever seen:
Apropos of the thread in general — in France, it’s not the bunny (or bunnies) that come(s) bearing Easter Eggs. Rather, all the bells from all the churches sprout wings and fly around sprinkling eggs (and in some traditions, also dropping rabbits) into everyone’s yards.
I listened to the That’s Absurd Please Elaborate podcast episode about this recently, from guest Yasmin Khan. It covers all the facts and flights of fancy really well.
(Had to drop an egg in this thread, reasons)
Yeah, sure. Next you’ll tell me people in Europe traditionally believe(d) big birds bring fully formed babbies to young human couples. 
Seems a good premise for a novel. Baby bombers.
You’re just hanging out in your yard and then poof…baby lands there and it’s yours.
There’s an anthology movie called Holidays and the segment on Easter is twisted.
I can never remember who wrote it, but there’s an amusing/horrible story called Death to The Easter Bunny that will have you laughing and screaming at the same time.
That’s silly. Everyone knows they are found under gooseberry bushes.
I thought they were in cabbage patches?