What Do Bunnies & Eggs Have to Do with Easter?
So what do bunnies and eggs have to do with Easter? It’s not all that hard to figure out, and it’s all very wonderful if you ask me. Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Before Christ, there was another celebration around the same time of the year. The celebration of the Vernal Equinox. The return of the sun, became the return of the Son. I would so much rather find things in common than reasons to be apart. And this holiday is so universal it just has to be discussed.
Like many other things in the Bible, Jesus’ story was foreshadowed by earlier stories. He came to fulfill those older events and tales, not contradict them. So it’s all a beautifully intricate tapestry all woven together to deliver a single message. Passover–when death passes over the faithful. Easter–when Jesus triumphs over death. Ostara, the Vernal Equinox, when the spring usurps winter from his cold throne. Spring is life. Winter is death. Metaphorically, each of these holidays brings the same message. Death is just a temporary condition that we don’t fully understand. We see it as The End, but it’s really just part of the cycle. Life always returns. Life never stops. It may appear to be gone for a while, but like the moon, it’s there, the whole time.
So what about the eggs and bunnies? Well, what’s the first thing you think of when you think of bunnies? They reproduce like rabbits is a familiar saying for a reason. Rabbits represent fertility. Fertility is what makes life. Fertile soil grows crops. Fertile animals bear young. So it’s about life. See the tie-in? Rabbits are also critters that move ahead by hops and leaps, and so they represent taking leaps, jumping into motion. The starter’s pistol goes off for us as Spring comes in, doesn’t it? It’s time to move!
Eggs, likewise, are a symbol of life. They were sacred to the druids, who wore egg-shaped stones to honor the power of life. They are the whole of potential, all contained in one tiny shell, ready to spring forth. They remind me of The Fool in the Tarot. Potential. That today is the first day of the rest of your life kind of energy. The moment when everything is possible. Just like this time of year feels to me. Springtime, all ready to bust out all over. Right? So decorating the eggs, and talking about bunnies would be readily recognized by our most ancient ancestors, as ways of acknowledging and honoring the season, and its symbolism of life over death, light over dark, and spring over winter, hope over despair, love over hate, peace over war and good over evil. How perfect then that these symbols have been adopted to help celebrate a holiday like Easter, that celebrates the very same things. Also, Rabbits and Springtime are closely tied to the Fairy Realm and the “Otherworlds.” This can be a powerful time for communing with nature and receiving messages from the nature-spirits. (Everything has spirit, every plant, every tree, every blade of grass.) Rabbit’s most prominent feature is of course, his ears. Listen for messages. This is a beautiful time to quiet our minds, to be still and listen. Wonderful things might come to us if we do. This is a time for planting seeds, both literally and symbolically. Everything we want to build in the coming season of light, from now until the end of the growing season at Samhain, should begin now and in the weeks to come. It’s time to begin. According to Susan Miller at Astrology Zone, the best time to begin all of these new projects will be right after the new moon on April 21st. Fresh air. Rebirth. Youth. Beginnings. Ideas. Fresh starts. Seeds. Spring. Sunshine. Dawn. Newness. Rejuvenation. The East. Pastel Colors. Communication. Inspiration. The Wind. Travel. Ideas. Whispers. Intuition. Messages. Smells. Feathers. Flowers. Yellow. Incense. Birds. Clouds. Morning. Children. Fertility. Potential. Butterflies. Fairies. Sylphs. All of these and more are the energies of this blessed time of the year. Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Ostara (a few weeks late) and HAPPY SPRINGTIME!
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