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Bunnies, Baskets, and Eggs
By Edain McCoy
FATE :: April 2001

Eggs awash in festive color, nesting in a beribboned basket near a fluffy bunny rabbit. The enticing smell of hot cross buns and subtle scent of milk white lilies. There is almost no one in the western world who would not associate this list of objects with the Christian holy week known as Easter. Yet many remain unaware that these items are also ancient symbols linked to the mythology of spring.

The word “Easter” is an Anglicization of the name of a Germanic goddess of spring and new life, Eostre. She personified the land and was the embodiment of the blessing of fertility for crops, animals, and people. Festivals held in her honor at the vernal equinox celebrated the life renewed through her resurrection. Variants of Eostre’s name are a testament to the pervasiveness of her worship. Among them are Ostara, another name for the spring equinox, and Austra, for whom the nation of Austria is named.

One of Eostre’s legends is responsible for bringing the Easter bunny into our lives. A little rabbit wanted to give his goddess a gift of his affection but had no idea what he could possibly give her that would be appreciated. While pondering his problem, he came upon an abandoned egg, a symbol of the new life Eostre brought to the earth each spring. He took the egg home and decorated it, making it an object fit for a queen. Eostre was so pleased with the rabbit’s gift that she asked him to distribute his eggs to everyone each year on her sacred day. From that time on they were known as Eostre’s Eggs or Easter Eggs ...

Read the rest of this article in the April 2001 issue of FATE

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