How did it ever happen that the bunny became associated with Easter? What historical connection is there between this small animal and the central Christian feast of the liturgical year? Why did the Easter bunny take hold in the Christian tradition and remain a staple of popular celebration right up until today?

These are questions posed to me recently by a colleague known for his wide knowledge of world history. Despite all of his learning and scholarly achievements, he did not know the answer nor, to my embarrassment, did I. A lifetime of being steeped in Christian symbolism had never moved me to focus on this connection. I had to plead ignorance by reason of never having asked myself these questions.

One easy answer that leaps to mind is the rabbit’s well-known ability to procreate. The bunny has become notorious for its fertility. People who reside in areas where they live are often surprised to see how many come forth each spring.

There may be something to this answer – the abundance of the species perhaps has some imaginative link with the central reality of Easter. Insignificant as this animal remains, the bunny does suggest life abounding.

But the historical record reveals a different meaning. According to the “Encyclopedia of Religion,” a standard reference work, ancient cultures attached meanings to this animal that lent themselves to adoption by Christianity.

In ancient Middle-East cultures the rabbit was taken to be a sign of death and re-birth. In Mesopotamian and Syrian society of some two thousand years before Christ, this animal was adopted as a symbol for some kind of rising again after dying. “In Egypt,” according to this source, “it was probably associated with Osiris , the god of rebirth and immortality.”

Later in the world of Greece and Rome, “as belief in immortality became more popular, the hare was increasingly used in funerary art.” Its meaning in ancient societies of the Middle-East thus made it appropriate for the first Christians to take it over as one of Easter’s emblems.

Along with the egg, more clearly a sign of new life, the rabbit was made to serve as a reminder of Christ’s rising from the dead. The author of an article on the subject from the encyclopedia cited above notes that “early Christians accepted this rabbit symbolism and depicted rabbits on gravestones.” I myself have never seen this animal depicted on an old gravestone in America, but perhaps such a motif would be worth looking for.

Thus the bunny is one of many creatures of the world taken over by the early Christians and used in connection with Christ. In that, the bunny is like the fish, the lily, water, and fire. All of these creatures, and many others, were seen as reminders of the central mysteries of the Christian faith. They became part of a sacramentalized world where everything could serve as full of meaning because redeemed by Christ the Savior.

Despite the bunny’s connection with Easter, however, the Christian church seems never to have explored in depth its symbolism or made much of it in popular piety. As another author in  “The Encyclopedia of Religion”  notes, “although adopted in a number of Christian cultures, the Easter bunny has never received any specific Christian interpretation.”

This statement is supported by personal experience. Never in my lifetime have I heard an authoritative Christian voice speak of the bunny as an important symbol. It re-mains strong in popular culture – greeting cards for Easter certainly make wide use of it, oftentimes ridiculously. But no one seems to take the connection of rabbit and resurrection seriously for its religious value.

Admittedly, this information about one of the symbols of Easter may not have a major impact upon people for whom the Easter faith is important. It may serve to remind us, however, that, in the eyes of believers, every creature belongs to a world that has been redeemed.

All of God’s creatures, bunny rabbits included, have a part to play in the great drama of dying and rising again. They can imaginatively move us closer to the religious mysteries by which people of faith live. Like people of long ago, we too can allow our-selves to feel the mythic power of humble creatures like the rabbit as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Richard Griffin