# History of Easter: Why Bunnies and Eggs? > HISTORY OF EASTER: WHY BUNNIES AND EGGS? Podcast version   he most joyous of Christian festivals and one of the first celebrated by Christians across the Roman Empire commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is set on the first… > URL: https://billpetro.com/history-of-easter/ > Last modified: 2026-04-04T16:57:51+00:00 Reading Time: 4 minutes ## *HISTORY OF EASTER: WHY BUNNIES AND EGGS? [Podcast version](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2c2EycNkUGMk8Uugkp75Ac?si=01cedbbd1ad143a5)   The most joyous of Christian festivals and one of the first celebrated by Christians across the Roman Empire commemorates the resurrection of **Jesus Christ**. It is set on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox.   Why is Easter celebrated then, where do we get the word, and what do bunnies, eggs, and lilys have to do with it?   Table of Contents Toggle - [Origin of the word Easter](#Origin_of_the_word_Easter) - [Easter Eggs](#Easter_Eggs) - [Easter Bunny](#Easter_Bunny) - [Easter Lily](#Easter_Lily) - [Date of Easter](#Date_of_Easter) - [Related](#Related) ### Origin of the word Easter There are several theories about where we got the word Easter. The first is that when Christianity reached the Teutonic peoples, it incorporated many of their heathen (“of the heath”) rites into the great Christian feast day, according to the [**Venerable Bede**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-telemachus#:~:text=The%20place%20and%20date%20match%20in%20this,now%20England%20%E2%80%94%20from%20a%20century%20earlier.). He was a monk who wrote the first history of Christianity in England. Easter month corresponded to April. Bede suggested that it had been dedicated to Eostre, or Ostara, the Teutonic goddess of the Spring and fertility. However, modern scholars have been unable to find any references to the goddess Bede mentioned anywhere else in historical literature. Other possibilities for the word’s meaning come from the Norse eostur, eastur, or ostara, which meant “the season of the growing sun” or “the season of new birth.” We get the word east from the same root. Another theory is that the word’s origin is Christian rather than “heathen.” Stay with me on this one: **White Week** in Latin is hebdomada alba. It was common for those baptized on Easter to wear “white robes” on the following Sunday, dominica in albis. The Latin alba means both white and dawn. Perhaps those speaking Old High German mistook their translation for dawn “ostarun” instead of the plural for white. Ostarun led to the German Ostern which led to our English [Easter](https://billpetro.com/historyoftheholidays/#HOES#:~:text=History%20of%20Easter%20series%3A).   ### Easter Eggs Eating **eggs** on Easter Sunday and giving them as gifts to friends and children probably arose because, in the earlier days of the church, eggs were forbidden food during [**Lent**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-ash-wednesday/) (the 40 days before Easter) and were therefore always eaten on Easter Sunday. However, the custom of coloring eggs goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who practiced this during their spring festival. **Edward I**, “Longshanks” of England (think of **Patrick McGoohan** in the film Braveheart), in 1290, bought 450 eggs to be covered either in gold leaf or with colored paint, and then distributed them to the “royal entourage” during Easter that year. The practice is mentioned again in the 16th century when the Pope sent [**Henry VIII**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-the-king-james-bible#:~:text=Henry%20VIII) of England an egg he’d enclosed in a silver case, known as “eggsilver” as a seasonal present. This was when Henry was still in the good graces of the Roman church.   Easter Potatoes? Image: Annelise Capossela/Axios   In 2023, with egg prices up over 55% from last year due to the avian influenza outbreak a year ago and consumers looking for alternative protein sources, the idea of painting and dyeing potatoes [started circulating](https://www.axios.com/2023/04/02/easter-2023-eggs-potato-prices?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email) on social media two months ago as memes with [#easterpotatoes](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23easterpotatoes&src=typed_query) and [@PotatoGoodness](https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=%40potatogooeness). My advice: hide them, but don’t bury them.   ### Easter Bunny Easter Hare The Easter hare, or “**bunny**,” also comes from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of Ancient Egypt. It belongs to the night when it comes out to feed. It is born with its eyes open, unlike the [rabbit](https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-rabbits-and-hares#:~:text=Rabbits%20prefer%20to%20hide%2C%20rather,period%20lasting%20about%2042%20days.). Like the moon, it is “the open-eyed watcher of the skies.” The hare became associated with the idea of lunar and human periodicity*. Thus, it became a symbol of fertility and the renewal of life. The hare became linked with the Easter or *paschal* eggs. In the early days of the folklore, the Easter Bunny carried red eggs, symbolizing the blood of Jesus. The Easter bunny likely came to Pennsylvania in America in the 1700s with German immigrants, where their fabled egg-laying *Osterhase* could lay their colored eggs in nests that children made for them. Both chocolate bunnies and eggs became popular across the U.S. in the 19th century, with baskets replacing nests. Easter remains the second-best-selling [candy holiday](https://billpetro.com/history-of-easter-candy/) in America, following [**Halloween**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-halloween).   ### Easter Lily A more recent Easter tradition is the **Easter lily**. It starts as a bulb and takes about three years to bloom. It has six petals and a unique trumpet. **Leonardo da Vinci**‘s painting depicts the angel Gabriel presenting the Virgin Mary with a lily while informing her that she would conceive and bear a son named Jesus. The Venerable Bede compared the Virgin Mary to a white lily.   The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci   The flower* Lilium **longiflorum *is native to the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan. It was introduced to England in 1819 and to the U.S. in 1880, and later made its way to Bermuda. But a virus wiped out the Bermuda lily strain. However, the American World War I soldier **Louis Houghton** had transported a suitcase full of the bulbs to Oregon in 1919. Farmers and florists from Oregon popularized them in Northern California. The market had been centered primarily in Japan, but this stopped abruptly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.     ### Date of Easter Council of Nicaea Although Easter was celebrated very early in the church, its recurring *date* was not agreed upon Empire-wide until A.D. 325. The Roman Emperor [**Constantine**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-constantine/) convened the ecumenical **[Council of Nicaea](https://billpetro.com/history-of-santa-claus)**, which included several hundred church leaders throughout the Roman Empire, including the Bishop of Myra, [**St. Nicholas**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-santa-claus).   Constantine Among other issues decided at the Council, the Emperor wanted the celebration of Easter to be separated from [**Passover**](https://billpetro.com/history-of-passover) in the Jewish lunar calendar of Nisan. Instead, he wanted it to be computed independently on a single Sunday, observed worldwide, using calculations practiced for some time in both Rome and Alexandria, even though they had different methods for calculating the Spring equinox. Though it was not immediately adopted everywhere, eventually, it was observed on *the first Sunday after the full moon following the [vernal equinox](https://billpetro.com/history-of-the-spring).* The date was to be fixed each year at **Alexandria**, Egypt, then the center of astronomical science. The date is an approximation that may differ from year to year.   This means the date of Easter can vary by up to 35 days!   Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian [billpetro.com](https://billpetro.com)   *Podcast version*:   [*Subscribe*](http://g003.enterprise.ipost.com/billpetrofriend/prefs) to have future articles delivered to your email.   ### *Related* [](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/x?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/pinterest?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/mastodon?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/threads?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/bluesky?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/tumblr?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/kindle_it?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/snapchat?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/print?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbillpetro.com%2Fhistory-of-easter%2F&linkname=History%20of%20Easter%3A%20Why%20Bunnies%20and%20Eggs%3F)[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)