{"id":812,"date":"2017-04-07T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/?p=812"},"modified":"2020-02-22T13:55:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T18:55:29","slug":"americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/","title":{"rendered":"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in a basket to small children. First called the Easter Hare, and made popular by German Lutherans, the bunny was supposed to judge whether or not children had been \u201cgood or bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bunny\u2019s story came to America through a German immigrant tradition, similar\u00a0to \u201cChristkind,\u201d the German precursor to what became America\u2019s Santa Claus. According to German legend, the hare would bring colored eggs in a basket with candy and small toys. If children were good, they received a basket.\u00a0Jelly beans, a smaller, sweeter version of eggs, were also used in Easter baskets. Children dying eggs and waking up to baskets full of chocolate, small gifts, or candy, was similar to opening gifts on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n

The German custom of the Easter Hare was first mentioned in the 1682 book, De Ovic Paschalibus<\/em>, by Georg Franck von Francenau. The hare bringing gifts coincided with the non-Christian celebration of the Spring Equinox marking the beginning of spring, or rebirth. On March 21st, pagans celebrated the Spring Goddess who ushered in the fresh flowers, sunshine, fertility, and cleansing rains. A small hare was a symbol of spring, which morphed into becoming part of the \u201cEaster season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo credit: ItsLassieTime \u2013 Own work, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=5521909<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Easter Bunny doesn\u2019t lay eggs. But the tradition of bunnies bringing eggs also has roots in Poland. Often the bunny would be accompanied by beautifully colored eggs.<\/p>\n

As a result of traditions passed down from one generation to another, both the Easter Hare and the colored eggs traveled to America, along with their storyteller.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in a basket to small children. First called the Easter Hare, and made popular by German Lutherans, the bunny was supposed to judge whether or not children had been \u201cgood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1910,"featured_media":819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[972],"tags":[1105,1104,1102,1097],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christianity","tag-de-ovic-paschalibus","tag-easter-bunny","tag-easter-eggs","tag-easter-hare"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hedgerow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-07T14:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-22T18:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/442\/2017\/04\/easter-postcard.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1664\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1112\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bethany Blankley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BethanyBlankley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bethany Blankley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/\",\"name\":\"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-07T14:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-22T18:55:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/ddbc3167252adedc06fd1075cad248e4\"},\"description\":\"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/\",\"name\":\"Hedgerow\",\"description\":\"Soul Libertie and the Wilderness Garden\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/ddbc3167252adedc06fd1075cad248e4\",\"name\":\"Bethany Blankley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57b084e23490cb23c6e08fcd268739c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57b084e23490cb23c6e08fcd268739c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bethany Blankley\"},\"description\":\"Bethany Blankley is a former Capitol Hill staffer, political analyst on public radio and Fox News affiliates, public speaker and commentator on Christianity and politics in America. Her commentary has been published by The Washington Times, Townhall, Religion Today, Charisma News, Christian Headlines, BeliefNet, and others. Follow her at @bethanyblankley and www.bethanyblankley.com. Her articles about state and federal public policy are published nationwide by The Center Square newswire, a publication of the Franklin News Foundation. Bethany previously worked as a communications strategist for four U.S. Senators, a U.S. Congressman and New York governor, and for several nonprofits. She earned her MA in Theology from New College at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and her BA in Political Science with honors from the University of Maryland. She is a past fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal and L'Abri Fellowship.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.bethanyblankley.com\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethanyBlankley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/author\/bblankley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?","description":"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?","og_description":"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/","og_site_name":"Hedgerow","article_published_time":"2017-04-07T14:00:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-22T18:55:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1664,"height":1112,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/442\/2017\/04\/easter-postcard.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bethany Blankley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BethanyBlankley","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bethany Blankley","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/","name":"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-04-07T14:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-22T18:55:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/ddbc3167252adedc06fd1075cad248e4"},"description":"The Easter Bunny first gained popularity in America in the early twentieth century. It was depicted as a colorful rabbit bringing Easter eggs and candy in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/2017\/04\/americans-start-celebrating-easter-bunny\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Did Americans Start Celebrating the Easter Bunny?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/","name":"Hedgerow","description":"Soul Libertie and the Wilderness Garden","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/ddbc3167252adedc06fd1075cad248e4","name":"Bethany Blankley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57b084e23490cb23c6e08fcd268739c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57b084e23490cb23c6e08fcd268739c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bethany Blankley"},"description":"Bethany Blankley is a former Capitol Hill staffer, political analyst on public radio and Fox News affiliates, public speaker and commentator on Christianity and politics in America. Her commentary has been published by The Washington Times, Townhall, Religion Today, Charisma News, Christian Headlines, BeliefNet, and others. Follow her at @bethanyblankley and www.bethanyblankley.com. Her articles about state and federal public policy are published nationwide by The Center Square newswire, a publication of the Franklin News Foundation. Bethany previously worked as a communications strategist for four U.S. Senators, a U.S. Congressman and New York governor, and for several nonprofits. She earned her MA in Theology from New College at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and her BA in Political Science with honors from the University of Maryland. She is a past fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal and L'Abri Fellowship.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.bethanyblankley.com","https:\/\/twitter.com\/BethanyBlankley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/author\/bblankley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1910"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hedgerow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}