Did you ever wonder how the Easter bunny is related to Christianity? Well I did, and as usual I found that like most other holidays, it was originally a pagan holiday. Since fundies are refusing to celebrate Halloween these days and yet they make a big deal of Easter, I can only assume they don't know the origins of this holy day.
Easter was originally the day to honor the Saxon Goddess Eostre or Ostara. She was probably a northern form of Astarte.
The Easter bunny was the moon hare sacred to the Goddess. The date that Easter falls on was fixed by the old pagan lunar calendar, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, formerly the "pregnant" phase of Eostre. The Christian festival wasn't called Easter until the Goddess's name was given to it in the late Middle Ages.
The Irish kept Easter on a different date than that of the Roman church, probably the original date of the festival of Eostre, until the Roman calendar was imposed on then in 632 A.D.
Eggs were always the symbol of rebirth, which is why Easter eggs were usually colored red especially in eastern Europe.
And remember that Bunnie dyed eggs for your sins.
