Editing Easter Bunny (section)

==Alleged association with Ēostre==
In a publication from 1874 German philologist [[Adolf Holtzmann]] stated "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of [[Ostara]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Holtzmann |first=Adolf |author-link=Adolf Holtzmann |date=1874 |title=Deutsche Mythologie |location=Leipzig |publisher=[[B. G. Teubner]] |page=141}}</ref> The connection between Easter and that goddess had been made by [[Jacob Grimm]] in his 1835 ''[[Deutsche Mythologie]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grimm |first=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Grimm |date=1835 |title=Deutsche Mythologie |location=Göttingen |publisher=Dietrichsche Buchhandlung |pages=181–182}}</ref> This proposed association was repeated by other authors including Charles Isaac Elton<ref>{{cite book |last=Elton |first=Charles Isaac |author-link=Charles Isaac Elton |date=1882 |title=Origins of English History |location=London |publisher=[[Bernard Quaritch]] |pages=407–408}}</ref> and Charles J. Billson.<ref>Charles J Billson (1892). ''Folk-Lore'' vol. 3 issue 4</ref> In 1961 [[Christina Hole]] wrote, "The [hare] is the true Easter beast, for he was once sacred to the European Spring-Goddess whom we have already met under her Anglo-Saxon name of [[Ēostre]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hole |first=Christina |title=Easter and its customs, a brief study |date=1961 |publisher=M. Barrows and Company, Inc. |location=New York |page=69 |lccn=61011092 |oclc=1283186}}</ref> The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the [[BBC]] documentary ''Shadow of the Hare'' (1993).<ref>{{cite episode |title=Shadow of the Hare |url=https://archive.org/details/WildlifeOnOneEp95OasisDavidAttenborough23Feb1988/Wildlife+on+One+Ep+138+Shadow+of+the+Hare+(David+Attenborough)+(12+April+1993).VOB |series=Wildlife on One |series-link=Wildlife on One |network=[[BBC One]] |date=April 12, 1993 |series-no=20 |number=138 |language=en |medium= |publisher= |location=United Kingdom |people=Attenborough, Sir David (Presenter)}}</ref>

The Oxford ''Dictionary of English Folklore'' however states "nowadays, many writers claim that hares were sacred to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, but there is no shred of evidence for this; [[Bede]], the only writer to mention [[Ēostre]], does not link her with any animal".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Simpson |editor-first1=Jacqueline |editor-last2=Roud |editor-first2=Steve |chapter=hares |title=Dictionary of English Folklore |year=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1917-2664-4 |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198607663.001.0001/acref-9780198607663-e-467 }}</ref>

A legend often encountered in contemporary times is that Eostre freed a frozen bird from a tree branch by turning it into a hare. It still continued to lay eggs but, having no use for them anymore and in gratitude to the goddess, gave them away.<ref>Breathnach, Sarah Ben (1990). ''Mrs. Sharp's Traditions''.</ref><ref> 2002. ''Cricket''. (magazine)</ref> This has no basis in any authentic, pre-Christian folklore, myth or religion and only appears to date from 1883, first published by K. A. Oberle in a book in German and later quoted by H. Krebs in a notes section in the journal ''Folk-Lore'', also in 1883. His quote is as follows:

{{Blockquote|text=Some time ago the question was raised how it came that, according to South German still prevailing folk-lore, the Hare is believed by children to lay the Easter-eggs. I venture now to offer a probable answer to it. Originally the hare seems to have been a bird which the ancient Teutonic goddess Ostara (the Anglo-Saxon Eàstre or Eostre, as Bede calls her) transformed into a quadruped. For this reason the Hare, in grateful recollection of its former quality as bird and swift messenger of the Spring-Goddess, is able to lay eggs on her festival at Easter-time.<ref>Krebs, H. (1883). ''Folk-Lore''. p. 122.</ref>}}