History of the Easter Bunny & Creepy EB Costumes

Though we don't celebrate the Easter dealio at our house, come Sunday morning, plenty of children will awaken, be dressed in their Easter bonnets and bow ties, and look forward to searching their backyards for brightly colored eggs and sugary treats. So I thought it would be fun to trace the roots of the cottontail critter that is so synonymous with this forthcoming holiday.

The Easter bunny is by no means a modern-day invention. The figure originated with the Pagan festival called Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by her earthly symbol, the rabbit. The hare and the rabbit were believed to be the most fertile animals and stood as the symbols of new life during the season of spring.

German settlers who came to the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the 1700's were the first to introduce the rabbit to America. The arrival of "Oschter Haws" was believed to be the "greatest pleasure" of childhood and children were told that if they were good, the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs. Boys would build nests with their caps and girls would use their bonnets to prepare for the egg laying. I'm not quite sure how the whole idea was passed off as believable; but then again, kids believe that Santa owns flying reindeer, eats billions of cookies, and swoops down every chimney in the world all in one night; so what's one "egg-laying bunny," eh?

The first edible Easter bunnies came from Germany as well and were made of pastry and sugar, not chocolate.  Another popular Easter treat, the Marshmallow Peep (**don't eat them if you are vegan, they DO contain gelatin), was brought to the scene by Sam Born, a Russian-born candy maker who originally emigrated to the US from France and went to work in the sweets biz in 1910. By 1953, he had purchased the Rodda Candy Company, which was best known for jelly beans and marshmallow chicks, the later of which Born found "intriguing." At the time, each gooey bird was made by hand, squeezing marshmallow out of a pastry tube into the chick shape. In 1954, he helped to develop special machines that could make many Peep chicks at one time. Americans spend close to $1.7 billion on Easter candy every year, just behind Halloween which consists of $2 billion worth of candy buying.

**Check out these creepy Easter Bunny costumes.  My, oh my! I must say, the Prez. Bush photos are particularly odd, no?