What is the symbolic meaning of rabbit-hare?

Answer 1

Another Answer

The Easter season takes place during the Spring Equinox. This was originally a pagan festival of fertility. Rabbits and Eggs, both represent fertility. They are remaining fragments of a Pagan holiday just like Christmas trees and the Yule log. Pagans adopted the names of Christian Festivals to subvert persecution from rulers who declared themselves Christian. Although these rulers may have claimed Christianity, none of their actions equated with anything Christ said.

In a way they did exactly what the pagans did. They claimed Christianity but went on with what they wanted to do.

AnswerTaken from: New Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 16, pg. 307.

The term Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Christ, comes from the Old English easter or eastre, a festival of spring; the Greek and Latin Pascha, from the Hebrew Pesah, "Passover." The earliest Christians celebrated the Lord's Passover at the same time as the Jews, during the night of the first (paschal) full moon on the first month of spring (Nisan 14-15). By the middle of the 2nd century most churches had transferred this celebration to the Sunday after the Jewish feast. But certain churches of Asia Minor clung to the older custom, for which they were denounced as "Judaizing" (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, chapters 23-25). As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals-in this instance. Connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit. The Easter lamb, however, comes from the Jewish Passover ritual, as applied to Christ, "the Lamb of God" [compare John 1: 29, 36; 1 Cor 5:7].

The Story of Easter (Taken from: Family Traditions)

Long before Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons in northern Europe held a festival in honor of Eostre, the goddess of springtime. After the time of Christ and the beginning of Christianity, the name Easter, meaning "new beginning," was kept for recognizing the day of the resurrection, the day Jesus Christ arose from the dead. In A.D. 525 the Easter date was decreed to be the Sunday following the first full moon after March 21, which is the spring equinox. Easter was not celebrated widely as a holiday in the United States until after the Civil War. For many, the religious significance of the Christian Easter has given rise to distinctively religious rituals and celebrations. But some of the traditional symbols of the holiday cross religious and cultural lines. The egg has always been a symbol of new life, and a feast of eggs was used to honor Eostre. Colored eggs were rolled over fields to help make the earth fertile. The tradition of the Easter rabbit is also very old. According to the legend, Eostre's favorite animal was a large bird. But one day when the bird angered her, she changed it into a rabbit. Thus we have the combination of rabbits and nests with colored eggs.

Why is there an Easter Bunny? (Taken from: Ever Wonder Why.)

The Easter Bunny himself was probably a creation of candy makers, who depicted him carrying baskets of sweets to children. But he has roots in a long tradition. Easter is related to the sun worshipers' rites of spring. Because of his fecundity, the hare symbolized to them the renewed fertility of earth and the abundant life the returning sun brings. In Egypt the date of Easter is set by the moon's orbit, and rabbits, because they are born with their eyes open, are connected to the "open-eyed moon" of Easter. The word "Easter" comes from a Norse goddess, Eastre or Ostara. Germans believed the hare was her sacred animal, and that it laid eggs for good children on Easter Eve.

Hope This Helped.

Hi Oilman, excellent answers and thank-you. However, with regard to your answer on the Easter bunny aspect your answer is more an educated secular answer than my simpler one. The great commission of Christ to his followers; was to go, and to make more Christians by sharing his good news. Like you mentioned the fecundity, the reproduction ability of a pair of rabbits is an excellent example of Christians meeting the test of his great commission. Christians should endeavor to be as peaceful, and reproduce as rabbits, by sharing his good news.