Editing Easter Bunny (section)

===Eggs===
{{main|Easter egg|Egg decorating}}
In [[Christianity]], for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the tomb of [[Jesus]], from which Jesus was [[resurrection of Jesus|resurrected]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Christianity|publisher= [[Nelson Thornes]]|author= Anne Jordan|quote= Easter eggs are used as a Christian symbol to represent the empty tomb. The outside of the egg looks dead but inside there is new life, which is going to break out. The Easter egg is a reminder that Jesus will rise from His tomb and bring new life. Orthodox Christians dye boiled eggs red to make red Easter eggs that represent the blood of Christ shed for the sins of the world.|date= 5 April 2000|isbn= 9780748753208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Guardian, Volume 29|publisher=H. Harbaugh|quote=Just so, on that first Easter morning, Jesus came to life and walked out of the tomb, and left it, as it were, an empty shell. Just so, too, when the Christian dies, the body is left in the grave, an empty shell, but the soul takes wings and flies away to be with God. Thus you see that though an egg seems to be as dead as a stone, yet it really has life in it; and also it is like Christ's dead body, which was raised to life again. This is the reason we use eggs on Easter. (In days past some used to color the eggs red, so as to show the kind of death by which Christ died,-a ''bloody'' death.)|year=1878}}</ref><ref name="GeddesGriffiths2002">{{cite book|title= Christian belief and practice|publisher= [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]]|author= Gordon Geddes, Jane Griffiths|quote= Red eggs are given to Orthodox Christians after the Easter Liturgy. They crack their eggs against each other's. The cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from the bonds of sin and misery and enter the new life issuing from Christ's resurrection.|date= 22 January 2002|isbn= 9780435306915}}</ref> Eggs became associated with Easter specifically when eating them was prohibited during the fast of [[Lent]], when believers abstained from meat and animal products—a practice that continues in certain [[Christian denomination]]s today, such as the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]], and among [[Western Christianity|Western Christians]] observing the [[Daniel Fast]].<ref name="Samaan2024">{{cite web |last1=Samaan |first1=Moses |title=The Meaning of the Great Lent |url=https://www.lacopts.org/story/the-meaning-of-the-great-lent/ |publisher=[[Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California, and Hawaii]] |access-date=10 March 2024 |date=9 April 2009 |quote=The Church teaches us to fast until sunset. Fish is not allowed during this period. Also married couples should refrain from physical relations to give themselves time for fasting and prayer (1 Cor. 7: 5). We would like to emphasize the importance of the period of strict abstention during fasting. It is refraining from eating and drinking for a period of time, followed by eating vegetarian food. ... True fasting must be accompanied by abstention from food and drink until sunset as designated by the Church.}}</ref><ref name="RNS2013">{{cite news |title=Lent: Daniel Fast Gains Popularity |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/lent-daniel-fast-gains-popularity_n_2640352.html |accessdate=December 30, 2018 |work=HuffPost |agency=Religion News Service |date=February 7, 2013 |quote=In some cases, entire churches do the Daniel Fast together during Lent. The idea strikes a chord in Methodist traditions, which trace their heritage to John Wesley, a proponent of fasting. Leaders in the African Methodist Episcopal Church have urged churchgoers to do the Daniel Fast together, and congregations from Washington to Pennsylvania and Maryland have joined in.}}</ref><ref name="Hinton2016">{{cite web |last1=Hinton |first1=Carla |title=The Fast and the Faithful: Catholic parish in Oklahoma takes up Lenten discipline based on biblical Daniel's diet |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/religion/2016/02/20/fast-and-the-faithful-catholic-parish-oklahoma-takes-lenten-discipline-based-biblical-daniels-diet/60691130007/ |publisher=[[The Oklahoman]] |access-date=27 March 2022 |language=English |date=20 February 2016 |quote=Many parishioners at St. Philip Neri are participating in the Daniel fast, a religious diet program based on the fasting experiences of the Old Testament prophet Daniel. ... participating parishioners started the fast Ash Wednesday (Feb. 10) and will continue through Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.}}</ref> A common practice in England during the medieval Christian era was for children to go door-to-door begging for eggs on the Saturday before Lent began. People handed out eggs as special treats for children to enjoy prior to the Lenten fast; people then abstained from eggs throughout Lent and could enjoy them once again with the conclusion of Lent at the arrival of Easter Sunday.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McRoy |first1=Anthony |title=How the Fast of Lent Gave Us Easter Eggs |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2010/february/how-fast-of-lent-gave-us-easter-eggs.html |publisher=[[Christianity Today]] |access-date=1 April 2024 |language=English |date=2024}}</ref><ref name="D'Costa">{{Cite web |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter/ |title=Beyond Ishtar: The Tradition of Eggs at Easter |last=D'Costa |first=Krystal |website=Scientific American |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328170422/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter/ |archive-date=28 March 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=28 March 2018}}</ref> As a special dish, eggs have been decorated by Christians as part of the Easter celebrations. Eggs boiled with some flowers change their color, bringing the spring into the homes, and some over time added the custom of [[Egg decorating|decorating the eggs]].<ref name="Thompson2013">{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Kenneth|title=Culture & Progress: Early Sociology of Culture, Volume 8|date=21 August 2013|publisher=[[Routledge]]|language=en |isbn=9781136479403|page=138|quote=In Mesopotamia children secured during the 40-day period following Easter day as many eggs as possible and dyed them red, "in memory of the blood of Christ shed at that time of his Crucifixion"--a rationalization. Dyed eggs were sold in the market, green and yellow being favorite colors. The use of eggs at Easter seems to have come from Persia into the Greek Christian Churches of Mesopotamia, thence to Russia and Siberia through the medium of Orthodox Christianity. From the Greek Church the custom was adopted by either the Roman Catholics or the Protestants and then spread through Europe.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Snodgrass|first1=Lucie L.|title=DYED IN Tradition|work=Academic Search Complete|issue=329|publisher=Vegetarian Times|date=March 2005}}</ref> Many Christians of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox Church]] to this day typically dye their [[Easter egg]]s red "in memory of the [[blood of Christ]], shed as at that time of his crucifixion."<ref name="GeddesGriffiths2002"/><ref name="Ellis1877">{{cite book|title=Popular antiquities of Great Britain|access-date=26 March 2016|year=1877|language=en|page=[https://archive.org/details/observationsonp02unkngoog/page/n119 90]|author=Henry Ellis|author-link=Henry Ellis (librarian)|url=https://archive.org/details/observationsonp02unkngoog|quote=[[Thomas Hyde|Hyde]], in his Oriental Sports (1694), tells us one with eggs among the Christians of Mesopotamia on Easter Day and forty days afterwards, during which time their children buy themselves as many eggs as they can, stain them with a red colour in memory of the blood of Christ, shed as at that time of his crucifixion. Some tinge them with green and yellow.}}</ref><ref name="D'Costa"/> The [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] art of decorating eggs, known as [[pysanka|''pysanky'']]. Similar variants of this form of artwork are seen among other eastern and central European cultures.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hallett|first1=Vicky|title=Egg-cellent art|volume=134|work=Academic Search Complete|issue=10|publisher=U.S. News & World Report|date=March 31, 2003}}</ref>

The idea of an egg-giving hare went to the U.S. in the 18th century. Protestant German immigrants in the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] area told their children about the {{-"}}''[[wikt:Osterhase|Osterhase]]''{{-"}} (sometimes spelled {{-"}}''Oschter Haws''{{-"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.germanworldonline.com/index.php/grus-vom-osterhasen-oschter-haws-song/ |title=Gruß vom Osterhasen: Oschter Haws Song |publisher=Germanworldonline.com |date=2011-04-23 |access-date=2013-03-31 |archive-date=2013-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603223416/http://www.germanworldonline.com/index.php/grus-vom-osterhasen-oschter-haws-song/ |url-status=live }}</ref>). ''Hase'' means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a [[hare]]. According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and [[Bonnet (headgear)|bonnets]] before Easter.<ref>[http://www.lhmint.org/easter/symbols.htm Easter Symbols] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312234541/http://www.lhmint.org/easter/symbols.htm |date=2008-03-12 }} from Lutheran Hour Ministries. Accessed 2/28/08</ref>