A Hop into History

Easter is the best known holiday of spring—the bunnies, chocolate eggs, and other more religious parts of the holiday are well known world wide. Everyone, at one point or another, has woken up in the morning, excited to see what treats and toys the Easter Bunny has left for them. Despite all the traditions and different ways there are to celebrate, no one really wonders where the Easter Bunny comes from. What about the other traditions? How did they start?

Easter first came from the pagan celebration for the spring equinox, which was celebrated the first Sunday after the full moon of the spring equinox. Over time, the pagan celebration merged with the Christian celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which happened in early April, and the Jewish Passover, which is near the end of April, not unlike what happened with Christmas. 

One of the most popular and most beloved Easter traditions is the Easter Bunny, an iconic symbol of Easter. This magical rabbit lays eggs filled with candy and other toys and hides them around the world on the night before Easter for children to find on Easter Sunday. This egg finding tradition usually leads to friendly competitions between family members and friends over who can find the most eggs the fastest. While the Easter Bunny seems very Santa-like these days, there is actually a reason a bunny is seen as, and was chosen as, the “mascot” of Easter. Rabbits are seen as protectors and symbolize fertility and new life and first came through in pagan festival of Eostre, which was celebrated mostly in Germany before it spread all across Europe and eventually brought to the United States in the 1700s by German immigrants in Pennsylvania. The goddess the festival was for, Eostre, or more commonly known as Eastre, originates from the Anglo-Saxon myths. She was a fertility goddess and known as the spring goddess. Many myths say that she owned a hare, lived in the moon and loved eggs. The Goddess was sometimes depicted as having the head of a hare, as well. From there, the idea of the Easter Bunny has spread to include chocolate and candy. 

The basic idea of easter eggs originated in the pagan celebrations of the Ancient Babylonians, and stood for new life and celebrating spring. These ideas spread to the Catholic Church and the eggs were then seen as the representation of Jesus’s emergence from the tomb and resurrection, as well. Decorating Easter eggs wasn’t a common practice until the thirteenth century, however, when the practice of eating eggs was forbidden during Lent, which is the time period after Epiphany but before Easter in the Christian Church. Because of this practice, lots of people started painting and decorating the eggs to symbolize the end of penance and fasting, which they would then eat during their Easter celebrations.

The Easter holiday counts to the second most sold candy after Halloween, but the tradition of having candy on Easter didn’t come into popularity until much later in history than many would think. Chocolate eggs seem to be the first candy introduced to the Easter scene in the nineteenth century while other types of candy don’t seem to show up until much later. Jelly beans showed up on Easter in the 1930s, however many sources say that the tiny jelly filled sweets are the predecessor of Turkish Delight. In modern times, around sixteen billion jelly beans are sold for Easter every year and continue to be popular during that time according to the website Christmas Central. Another non-chocolate candy that is endlessly popular is the Peep, which is a sugar-coated marshmallow usually seen in the shape of a chick or rabbit, in bright colors and many flavors. The company that made the popular candy, Just Born, was founded by Sam Born in 1923, however, the production of peeps didn’t begin until the 1950s, originally being plain yellow marshmallow chicks. The other beloved flavors and shapes came later as popularity for the Peep grew.

Former Gallatin High student, Kimberly Navarro, described what she liked best about Easter with a fun family tradition. “Every Easter morning my mom would wake us up and we would make our way to the kitchen where she would have a ‘make it yours’ station! It's full of french toast, pancakes, and biscuits and spread out through the table are bowls full of sides and treats to go with your meal. The treats being chocolate chips, bacon, sausage etcetera. We’ve had this tradition going since I could remember and I look forward to it every year!”

Easter is a holiday whose traditions come from many different cultures and beliefs which has grown and changed as time went by, and continues to do so. While some traditions are as old as time, like Easter eggs, and some newer, such as the candy, the traditions have merged together to create the holiday many know and love today.