The Easter Bunny is NOT Christian. Neither are Easter Eggs.
Sitting here watching FoxNews this morning and there are, of course, flaps around the nation about how various schools have banned the “Easter bunny” and egg hunts and even CANDY. One enterprising school district was going to rename the E.B. “Peter Rabbit”, so as not to offend anyone with this astonishingly Christian symbol.
::coughs::
Regarding ‘bunny’
Verse Search Results (The King James Version (Authorized))
Your search query for ‘bunny’ did not return any results. Please modify your search query and try again.
Regarding ‘rabbit’
Verse Search Results (The King James Version (Authorized))
Your search query for ‘rabbit’ did not return any results. Please modify your search query and try again.
Regarding ‘hare’ (synonymous with ‘rabbit’ and ‘bunny’)
Le 11:6 - And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
De 14:7 - Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.
So… the only rabbits mentioned in Scripture aren’t too happy, they’re unclean.
How about eggs?
- De 22:6 - If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:
- Job 6:6 - Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
- Job 39:14 - Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
- Isa 10:14 - And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
- Isa 59:5 -They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
- Jer 17:11 - As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
- Lu 11:12 - Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Nothing bad (well, except for the Isaiah 59 one!) … but nothing at all about decorating and hunting eggs.
I won’t get on my “eggs and bunnies have pagan origins” schtick this morning, because I’m in a good mood and don’t want to ruin it. (They do, and we should avoid them. Nuff said)
Suffice to say, for now, that the hollering about “We must protect the Easter Bunny, he’s a Christian symbol!” is utter nonsense.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I dunno. I think there can be something very Christian about Pysanky eggs. But the trick is you get to put in your own symbols.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Hi Kyle!
It’s true - you do get to put your own symbols on the eggs, and today’s Pysanky eggs (that are done by Christians) do have overtly Christian symbols.
However, their origins pre-date the coming of Christianity to the Ukraine, and are well-rooted in pagan tradition. Eggs are a fertility symbol in and of themselves, and they were often decorated with other fertility symbols (hens and roosters, for examples). They were often used as fetishes against evil spirits, and the people thought the eggs could cure diseases. The eggs were also buried in fields to transfer the fertility and ensure good crop growth.
Back when I was pagan, I had a friend who made them; the symbols she used were - shall I say - traditional. I’m not sure anyone would recognize them as “non-Christian” unless they knew specifically what they were looking at.
http://plymouthlibrary.org/faqpysanky.htm is one page that references the pysanky, but there’s lots of them.
April 12th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
[...] just tried to edit one of my posts with the MORE tag to make it shorter on the page (that Easter Bunny one)… I’m not sure what went wrong, but WRONG it went. [...]