On Easter morning, children across the land look forward to finding baskets filled with colored eggs and other sweets. Who brings these treats? The Easter bunny, of course!
Why would a rabbit-- or a hare--have eggs? According to legend, Eostre, the goddess of spring, changed a bird into a hare. Not forgetting his old habits, however, the changed rabbit kept on building nests and filling them with eggs!
The familiar rabbit with his baskets of eggs started in Europe as the Easter Hare. The hare was originally a symbol of Easter for the Germans who came to America in the eighteenth century. Germans believed that the white hare would leave brightly colored eggs for all good children on Easter morning. By the nineteenth century in America, the Easter hare became the Easter bunny, delighting children with baskets of eggs, chocolates, candy chicks, jelly beans and gifts on Easter morning.