What's Up With the Easter Bunny

This is purely a work of introspective fiction. Nothing I'm concluding is backed up, it's purely fictional and curious. It's not a religious piece even though it mentions religion. It could be sensitive to certain people and their beliefs, so please feel free to overlook this piece if that's you, totally understandable.

Most people know that Easter is the celebration of Jesus's resurrection, so something I've wondered for quite some time now is what the bunny symbolizes. How does the bunny relate to Jesus? What I found when I tried to research it was only more questions. I think it's kind of funny how, growing up, I never questioned why there was a bunny or why there was a magic man giving me presents on a day that apparently isn't even Jesus's birthday. A man crawling into my chimney didn't scare me because I was getting gifts. I think it's because children have big imaginations and you could tell them that their dad was an undercover elf from the North Pole and they would believe you. I think it's cute and it makes me happy that kids are able to use their imagination on fun holidays.

I'm not a kid anymore though, and now I'm wondering how some traditions have come to be in the first place. Since I love creative writing, I thought it'd be fun to come up with some of my own theories right on the fly here. Easter is coming up, so there's no better time to do this. I want to bring back the kid in me who could write stories about other worlds and not be self-conscious about how well those worlds were constructed. So here we go.

To start off, where did the eggs come from? Real bunnies don't even lay eggs. That's birds that do that. So does the Easter Bunny represents some kind of magical bunny who does lay eggs with chocolate in them? It's possible that the bunny is just chosen because it's an admirable animal. It's not the same as, say, a raccoon, that people don't feel guilty for hitting on the road. Bunnies are the types of animals kids point at from car windows, the type of soft and non-vicious looking animals that make kids want to go up to them. Perhaps a bunny was chosen, knowing Easter hunting is mainly for children, and that way there would be no worry with children becoming fearful.

Another thing that comes to mind is Officer Hop from Zootopia. The main character is a bunny, and there's a reason a bunny is chosen. She is not a predator and she's small; they used her to make it even more inspiring when she became a police officer and did all these great things. She was used because she's more often underestimated. Obviously the Easter bunny was a thing way before Zootopia was, but it supports the fact that bunnies are seen as not only the friendly ones, but also the type that can persevere. Maybe this can be attributed to Jesus and how he never gave up on us. Seeing how Jesus, seeing how no one recognized him when he first resurrected, maybe the bunny symbolizes how Jesus wasn't recognizable. Obviously you don't look at a bunny and think it's Jesus. But the bunny still has good qualities and stuff to show that maybe it's meant to symbolize Jesus but also symbolize all those who didn't believe he was who he was.

Overall, I feel like the bunny is just a happy image that is used to celebrate the resurrection. It's not even a religious symbol for everyone. Some may just see it as a fun time for their kids. That's my theory though and my prediction based off what I know about bunnies and about Christianity.

This is all only my theory. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. It's just my stab at guessing behind the mysterious origins of Easter.

There's also the 'argument' that people celebrate Christmas and Easter the most. Hanukkah, for instance, is celebrated by a lot of people as well yet not given enough acknowledgement. People who aren't Christians celebrate Christmas, but others may not choose to celebrate at all, or may have their own celebration based of their religion. Christianity seems like a dominant religion. I think we need to do something about being more inclusive still of other religions and not assuming everyone celebrates things the same way.

I urge you all to make your own predictions. That was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I know I'm going to have a great Easter. Hope you all do too :)