[Hildy]

I'm glad you brought this up. Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ? I'm not being facetious. I've asked many of my friends, and they can't seem to tell me. I know you all will be happy to inform me. Thank you.

[Howlin]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

Rent Eddie Izzard's video, Dressed To Kill. He explains it all quite well. :-)

[FreedomPoster]

Bunnies and eggs are vestigial remnants from pagan Spring planting/fertility celebrations.

[tiamat]

There were old Roman (and other ) springtime holidays that had to do with fertility...Eating eggs was considered lucky for any woman trying to conceive at this time of year. A lot of the time the eggs were colored red to symbolize the sun, blood, life....the Greeks still do the red eggs.

The rest of us like other colors as well.

And BUNNIES are famous for... well.... you know! ;-)

I think bonnets are simply because after a long , drab, winter, people want a bit of color to celebrate spring!

A lot of these pagan traditions got co-opted into our modern Easter traditions.... they are simply fun "extras" nowadays.


Does this help?

[Maigrey]

Origins of Easter

I hope this helps.

[Junior]

The egg is a symbol of rebirth. Bunnies are pagan fertility symbols that have made their way to modern times as a sign of spring. Bonnets just look good.

[E Rocc]

One thing I've noticed is that while over the last decade or two Christmas has gotten more secular and commercial, Easter has become more of a religious holiday, therefore less on the radar for non-religious people.

Those who bemoan the secularization of Christmas presumably would like this trend.

-Eric

[Willie Green]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

The extremely loose connection correlates the Resurrection of Christ with other traditional customs celebrating the rebirth of Spring.

The pagan origins of the Easter Bunny

[ryanjb2]

"Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ? I'm not being facetious. "

Well, we've only been non-Pagans for 1500-1000 years now, so traditions die hard.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

Medieval tradition. The peasants didn't have to work on the Lord's manor lands on Easter and were given extra eggs for their trouble.

In time, eggs symbolized birth renewal (easter is near the spring equinox -- officially its the First Sunday after the First Full Moon After the Spring Equinox) -- Spring -- renewal -- resurrection -- renewal .. etc

Easter Bunny grew out of all of that.

[Polybius]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ? I'm not being facetious. I've asked many of my friends, and they can't seem to tell me. I know you all will be happy to inform me. Thank you.

The same thing that dressing up in scary costumes and passing out candy to other people's children on Halloween has to do with witchcraft or Satanic worship.

Absolutely nothing.

It's just a fun thing you do for the kids.

For those who want to find symbolism, bunnies, eggs and Spring themes can be said to represent a the springing back to life from the dead of winter but eggs and bunnies have no officially recognized religious significance whatsoever.

[SamAdams76]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

I wish I had an answer for you. All I can think of is that some well-meaning but dopey people wanted to come up with ways to make these religious holidays more palatable to children. Hence the Easter Bunny on Easter and Santa Claus at Christmas. I don't get the "egg" thing because the only eggs I see my kids eating are the chocolate kind. Might as well just get them a Hershey bar for crying out loud.

As a result of this, these serious religious holidays are now seen by kids as an opportunity to stuff their faces with candy and have fun playing with all their new toys. Not that I'm the most religious person in the world, but even I see that it is a shame that our kids have no sense of what these holidays really mean anymore.

As for the original article about how people are dressed, I really couldn't care less about that. I mean, jeans and sneakers are definitely not appropriate for church-going, but I don't see the need to wear suits and fancy dresses either. Especially here in New England where it is still cold, damp and muddy.

[mlmr]

Bunnies and eggs equal new life

Easter bonnets come from the time no good Christian woman would enter a church with her head uncovered. Easter is a time of renewal and there fore the new bonnet

[johnb838]

I think hiding Easter eggs is a derivation of the Passover custom of hiding the Afikoman and eating the boiled egg at the start of the meal.

Bonnets are because Ladies of old, unlike the shameless hussies of today, would cover their heads in church. They would all get a new bonnet at Eastertide and try to outdo each other. I imagine during Lent they were only allowed to wear a doily.

[johnb838]

A doily or a veil.

[Myrddin]

I'm glad you brought this up. Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

$$$ for the merchants. A Google search finds this explanation. More folklore imported to America and commercialized.

[redhead]

"I'm glad you brought this up. Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ? I'm not being facetious. I've asked many of my friends, and they can't seem to tell me. I know you all will be happy to inform me. Thank you."

Mostly symbols of spring. Eggs symbolize new life. Rabbits are prolific, which is another symbol of new life. Bonnets are simply a holdover from the days when worshipping women were expected to keep their hair covered in church.

[lonestar]

I don't know but the little Jewish boy in my neighborhood had as much fun with his Easter eggs and Christmas trees as did the Christian kids. His mother felt that until he was old enough to understand WHY, it didn't hurt him to have a tree and eggs.

[gitmo]

Jesus died for the sins of the world, and rose again as the first of the new Man. The rabbit didn't. Neither did the eggs.

[stripes1776]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

That is a very good question. Others on this thread have given very good answers. Here is my attempt.

The early Chuch never viewed non-Christian cultures as totally devoid of religious significance, only that their religious understanding was incomplete. If those cultures possessed symbols that expressed ideas similar to Christianity, they were viewed as prefigurations to the ultimate meaning to be found in Christianity. It provided a link from the old religion to the new one.

The original Christians, all of whom were Jewish, found it very natural to interpret their own scriptures pointing forward to what they experienced in the founding of the church. St. Paul would use a similar technique when he went outside the synagogue of a foreign city to preach to Greeks. He used imagery in Greek culture to illustrate and illuminate his message.

Eggs and rabbits were symbols of fertility--new life. The church simply blessed them to bring out what they thought were their ultimate and true meaning--new life that was eternal, the Resurrection.

As for Easter bonnets, I can only offer a possible explanation. Not so long ago, women always wore hats when they went out of the house. Women also wore something on their heads when they went to church--a scarf, a prayer veil, a hat. Easter was a joyous holiday, so celebrate with a new hat.

Today, women seldom wear hats when they go out of the house or in church. I don't think people understand any more the fascination woman used to have for hats.

I hope this helps as an explanation. Sorry if it's a bit wordy, but I didn't know how to say it in fewer words.

[Protagoras]

Could somebody here please explain to this Jew what bunnies, eggs and bonnets have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

Nothing. Many nominal christians have tried to make it into a secular holiday (holy day), kinda like a spring celebration.

Christmas has been denigrated the same way.