Why Do We Associate The Eggs And Rabbits With Easter?

The most enjoyable of Christian holidays is Easter. It is celebrated in commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The exact day of Easter may vary from year to year, but, it has come off in the spring season of the year. With the spread of Christianity, the celebration of Easter included many customs that were linked with the arrival of spring. This is why many Easter customs go back to traditions itself.

Easter and spring both symbolise the coming of new life. The ancient Persians and Egyptians celebrated the spring festival by colouring and eating eggs. They considered the egg a symbol of fertility and new life. The Christians adopted the egg as symbolic of new life, the symbol of resurrection.

In the early days of the Church, eggs were forbidden food during Lent. With the end of Lent people were glad to see and eat eggs that they made a tradition of eating them on Easter Sunday and giving them as gifts to friends and children.

In the legends of ancient Egypt, the hare is associated with the moon. The hare is linked with the night because it comes out only then to feed. By being associated with the moon the hare became a symbol of the new period of life. These the hare stood for the renewal of life and for fertility. The Easter hare was a part of spring celebrations before Christianity. The early Christians therefore took it and linked it with Easter, the holiday that symbolizes new life.

The tradition of wearing new clothes on Easter Sunday is also symbolic of casting off the old and the beginning of the new.