Of Easter Eggs and Rabbit
(avg. read time: 7–14 mins.)
Finally, we must ask about the symbols associated with the celebration of Easter. The two most common are Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit/bunny/hare. These are not typically the primary pieces of evidence used for those who talk about the pagan origins of Easter. The argument almost always begins with the name of the day and these symbols are simply used to support the conclusion drawn from the name association. But in any case, the claims of Ishtar’s association with Easter once again come up empty. Even a perusal of the Wikipedia page on Inanna/Ishtar, one of the best-researched articles I have seen on the site, turns up nothing about her association with eggs or Leporidae creatures. Apart from inventing such associations, the best that advocates of this position can do is point to her association with fertility, which is true but reductive, as she was more generally associated with sexuality (she was probably more well known for mistreatment of her lovers than for reproducing with them, if the Epic of Gilgamesh is anything to go by), as well as with war and conquest. Furthermore, mere association with fertility does not mean that every possible symbol of fertility is thereby linked with her (in fact, among animals, she was typically associated with the lion).
Those who know of the goddess Eostre and of the hypothesis that the name for Easter came from her will sometimes claim that the symbols come from her and some association that she had with spring. It is important to make a distinction here. Some modern pagans may make some associations between her and these things, sometimes even as an attempt to “reclaim” Easter from the Christians, but these claims cannot be definitively linked to anything that Bede, our earliest source on Eostre, would have known.1 All we can know about the ancient Eostre is what Bede tells us and, at least indirectly, what certain names may indicate. Everything else comes from speculation based on her name.
Easter Eggs
With that said, I will address the significance of Easter eggs first. The basic reason for the association extends to the ancient practice of fasting before the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. Fasts are attested in our oldest references to this celebration in Eusebius’s notes referenced in the second part of this series, as Irenaeus claims that his teacher Polycarp observed a fast prior to celebrating Jesus’s resurrection. We can only speculate on what was involved in those fasts.2 Tertullian (~155–220) refers to fasting before the Pascha, including on the Sabbath beforehand (which is otherwise not a day for fasting; On Fasting 14.2–3). Hippolytus refers to fasting for two days before Pascha, as well as exceptions to this rule (Trad. ap. 33). Dionysius of Alexandria’s Letter to Basilides refers to a diversity of practices of fasting the week prior to Pascha (1). These references to fasting vary in length, but they do not provide any details on what people fasted from. The Didascalia Apostolorum refers to eating only bread, salt, and water prior to the fasts of Friday and Saturday before the Pascha, which involved no food at all (21).
Our earliest source to refer to what would become the Lenten fast is Athanasius in his Festal Letters.3 These were annual letters that he sent in his function as the bishop of Alexandria, whereby he would announce the date of the Pascha and provide additional instructions and reflections. His first such letter (in 329) presents calls to both the preparatory fast and the Paschal feast, providing biblical/theological rationale along the way, but the only detail he gives for the fast is that it lasted six days before the Pascha (1.10).4 In his second and third letters (330–331), he refers to both a fast of forty days and a Holy Week (2.8; 3.5–6). It is unclear when the fast of forty days began, but it is clearly based on multiple biblical precedents, especially on Jesus with his fast in preparation for his ministry (Exod 34:28; Deut 9:9, 18; 1 Kgs 19:8; Jon 3:4–5; Matt 4:2 // Luke 4:2). Athanasius made several more references to the forty-day fast that he wanted his fellow Christians to observe (6.12–13 [334]; 7.11 [335]; 10.12 [338]; 11.15 [339]; 12.1 [340]; 13.8 [341]; 19.9–10 [347]). In one letter, he clarifies that the forty days are not consecutive days of fasting, as the fast is suspended on Sundays and Saturdays (6.13), which eventually led to the development of the present-day Lenten season, which lasts forty-six days, with forty days plus the six Sundays leading into Easter. In another letter, he indicates that this practice is widespread in the church (12.1).
Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390), who worked in Constantinople, preached on baptism in 381, during which he confirmed that this forty-day fast was widespread:
Christ fasted a little before His temptation, we before Easter. As far as the fasting days are concerned it is the same, but the difference in the seasons is no little one. He armed Himself with them against temptation; but to us this fast is symbolical of dying with Christ, and it is a purification in preparation for the festival. And He fasted absolutely for forty days, for He was God; but we measure our fasting by our power, even though some are led by zeal to rush beyond their strength. Again, He gave the Sacrament of the Passover to His Disciples in an upper chamber, and after supper, and one day before He suffered; but we celebrate it in Houses of Prayer, and before food, and after His resurrection. He rose again the third day; our resurrection is not till after a long time. But matters which have to do with Him are neither abruptly separated from us, nor yet yoked together with those which concern us in point of time; but they were handed down to us just so far as to be patterns of what we should do, and then they carefully avoided an entire and exact resemblance. (Oration 40.30)5
Likewise, Epiphanius of Salamis refers to the forty days of fasting, excepting Sundays, and to various practices of fasting during Holy Week, including those who consumed only salt and water towards the evening on the six days prior to Pascha, and those who went without food for the whole week (Exposition of the Faith 22.8–11). The diversity of practice in the fasts was consistent with the diversity of practices in observing vigils (22.12–14). The aforementioned Apostolic Constitutions also refer to the Lenten fast and the fast of Holy Week (5.13, 15). They also specify, at least in the case of the Holy Week fast, that this fast allows for someone to consume bread, salt, herbs, and water, but they must abstain from wine and meat until the time of the feast (5.18).
These fasts—particularly as articulated by the Didascalia Apostolorum, Epiphanius, and the Apostolic Constitutions—did not specify that eggs were to be avoided, but such is clearly implied. Socrates Scholasticus (380–450) of Constantinople supplies the first direct reference to fasting from eggs in a passage where he reviews fasting practices, such as what different people consider to be a forty-day fast and what different people fast from:
Those in Illyrica and all over Greece and Alexandria observe a fast of six weeks, which they term “The forty days’ fast.” Others commencing their fast from the seventh week before Easter, and fasting three [thirty?] five days only, and that at intervals, yet call that time “The forty days’ fast.” … Some wholly abstain from things that have life: others feed on fish only of all living creatures: many together with fish, eat fowl also, saying that according to Moses, these were likewise made out of the waters. Some abstain from eggs, and all kinds of fruits: others partake of dry bread only; still others eat not even this: while others having fasted till the ninth hour, afterwards take any sort of food without distinction. And among various nations there are other usages, for which innumerable reasons are assigned. Since however no one can produce a written command as an authority, it is evident that the apostles left each one to his own free will in the matter, to the end that each might perform what is good not by constraint or necessity. Such is the difference in the churches on the subject of fasts. (Church History 5.22)6
In most of these cases, eggs would be part of the food observers abstained from, even when not specified, because Christians generally abstained from meat (with fish being the most frequent exception).
The Council of Trullo/the Quinisext Council (692) further solidified the status of eggs in Lenten fasts. This council gets its dual name from the fact that it complements the fifth and sixth ecumenical councils (both of which were at Constantinople) by virtue of issuing disciplinary canons. Among the many canons are a couple concerning Lent, which rule that Lenten fasts are observed every day except for Saturdays and Sundays and the day of the Annunciation (52; 55). Most relevant to our interest is Canon 56:
We have likewise learned that in the regions of Armenia and in other places certain people eat eggs and cheese on the Sabbaths and Lord’s days of the holy lent. It seems good therefore that the whole Church of God which is in all the world should follow one rule and keep the fast perfectly, and as they abstain from everything which is killed, so also should they from eggs and cheese, which are the fruit and produce of those animals from which we abstain. But if any shall not observe this law, if they be clerics, let them be deposed; but if laymen, let them be cut off.7
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), in his Summa Theologiae, articulates the typical European Catholic practice of Lenten fasts and supplies confirmation that these principles were still in practice hundreds of years later, as eggs and milk foods were specifically prohibited during the Lenten fast, but not other fasts (II.2.147, Art. 8, Rep. 3).8 He understands the intensification of the practice in this case as being due to its anticipation of Easter (for which fasting contributes to a more devout celebration) and to its being done in imitation of Christ’s forty-day fast.
In this context, partaking of eggs became a typical way of celebrating the feast and the end of the fast, as there would be an abundance of eggs (no one ever told the chickens that people were fasting) and a community of people ready for a good time. But of course, when people think of Easter eggs, they primarily think of eggs dyed and painted with bright colors. The actual practice of dying eggs is quite ancient and precedes Christianity in many parts of the world. The Eastern Orthodox have associated dying eggs red with a story of Mary Magdalene, although it is unclear how old this tradition is. Likewise, how the practice became associated with the eggs of Easter Sunday in the West remains a mystery. The claim repeated in many circles that it came from ancient Mesopotamia is based on a misreading of Thomas Hyde’s 1694 book De ludis orientalibus, wherein he refers to the dyeing of eggs among Mesopotamian Christians.9 The presumption has been that he is referring to ancient Mesopotamians rather than contemporary Mesopotamians, although there is no clear indication that he means the former (since Mesopotamia was still a popular name for the region). But in any case, one account predates this source by four centuries. A household record from King Edward I (a.k.a. Edward Longshanks) of England in 1290 refers to him spending eighteen pence on 450 eggs, which were to be covered in gold leaf or dyed and then distributed to the royal household for Easter. Of course, this is unlikely to be the precise origin of the custom in Britain or western Europe; it is simply a practice noted without further explanation and is probably a royal version of an already known custom. Because we lack other specific references to colored eggs, it is difficult to be more precise about when the eggs associated with the feast of Easter from ancient times were painted or dyed.
Easter Rabbit/Bunny/Hare
The second symbol will usually demonstrate when someone making claims about Ishtar or Eostre is working backwards from present-day (usually American) celebration to a supposed pagan source. They will say a “rabbit” or “bunny” was a symbol associated with these goddesses, blissfully unaware that the Easter rabbit/bunny is a rather recent addition to the Easter celebration. In Europe, the animal was a hare, which is part of the same taxonomic family as rabbits but is not a rabbit. But even the hare’s iconographic association with Easter is probably only a few centuries old.
In any case, unlike the name of Easter, the most likely root for this particular symbol is Germany. Different regions of Germany have traditions related to the Easter Fox, the Easter Stork, the Easter Chicken, and the Easter Rooster. It is difficult to say how old each of these traditions are without textual references earlier than the first decade of the twentieth century, but all of these animals have been associated with bringing the decorated Easter eggs left out for children. The Easter Hare is likewise first referenced in Germany as Georg Franck von Franckenau referred to it in his book Satyrae Medicae in 1682.10 Hares and rabbits had previously appeared in several church designs, particularly in Devon in England, as well as in religiously themed artwork, such as the sixteenth-century painting The Madonna of the Rabbit. However, in none of these cases were they directly linked with the celebration of Easter. And the traditional German Easter Hare did not become a rabbit/bunny until people from Germany and the Netherlands emigrated to the United States, after which point it was exported to the rest of the world as a major Easter symbol.
Since not all of the Easter critters are egg-bearers or even birds, how might they have become associated with Easter eggs at all? Apart from whatever significance the local folklore might assign to each animal, there is the fact that these animals would return (in the case of storks) or reemerge in the fields and forests near the beginning of the spring, which would in turn herald the coming of Easter. In the same way that St. Nicholas, Christkind, Sinterklaas, and eventually Santa Claus became associated with leaving Christmas gifts for children, these animals became associated with leaving the decorated eggs for children. This is also why the association of the hare with Easter precedes that of the association of the rabbit, at least as far as we can tell. Unlike the rabbit, the hare does not have an obvious association with fertility by virtue of frequent reproduction and large families (hares are generally solitary apart from mating). They are rather associated with the return of spring.
Conclusion
Plenty of mysteries remain about Easter. We do not know when exactly the annual celebration of Easter/Pascha began nor when exactly the two early traditions about its proper date emerged. We do not know if Bede’s explanation for the name of Easter is correct. We do not know about any ancient worship of the goddess Eostre or why exactly it was related to April. We do not know when the custom of decorating Easter eggs came about. And we do not know when and why exactly hares and other animals came to be associated with Easter.
But what we can establish with significant confidence tells us the following. The time at which Easter/Pascha has been celebrated comes from its historical linkage with Passover, although the Church in its early centuries devised ways to calculate the date of the Pascha independently of the Jewish observance of the Passover. Different methods have been used for this calculation, but today the major source of difference is the use of the Gregorian calendar as opposed to the older Julian calendar. The day for celebrating Jesus’s resurrection on an annual basis has many names across the globe, but it has only been called Easter or some variation thereof through English influence. But this was clearly an innovation—for which Bede’s explanation seems to be the best one available—introduced centuries after our earliest indications of the day’s celebration, since its name across the Christian world was Pascha, Πάσχα,פסחא, or some local variation thereof. Easter eggs come from the ancient association of eggs and other meats with the Lenten fast and its breaking at the Paschal feast. The Easter Rabbit/Bunny comes from the Easter Hare, which has its earliest appearance in Germany, although it is probably of more recent vintage than the Easter eggs. None of these facets of Easter/Pascha are hints of a pagan origin for the holiday. Rather, the holiday is, and always has been, about celebrating the great gospel events, especially Jesus’s resurrection.
On modern pagan rituals and beliefs associated with Eostre, see Cusack, “Eostre,” 32–37.
Cf. Eusebius of Caesarea, On the Paschal Solemnity 11.
NPNF[2] 4:506–53. Scholars debate the precise dating of these letters. I use the traditional dates here for the sake of simplicity. For more on the dating, see Mosshammer, Easter Computus, 114.
One of the most succinct statements of the rationale appears in the fifth letter: “We fast meditating on death, that we may be able to live; and we watch, not as mourners, but as they that wait for the Lord, when He shall have returned from the wedding, so that we may vie with each other in the triumph, hastening to announce the sign of victory over death” (5.4; NPNF[2] 4:519). Cf. 6.10; 14.6.
NPNF[2] 7:371.
NPNF[2] 2:131. Cf. Sozomen, Church History 7.19.
NPNF[2] 14:391.
For his reasoning on why the fast is for forty days, see II.2.147, Art. 5, Answer. There were also other references to eggs in association with Easter/Pascha in Western Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries noted here in the first “Ovum” entry: https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_b1AJAAAAQAAJ#page/n88/mode/1up.
Thomas Hyde, De Ludis Orientalibus, vol. 2 (Oxford: Theatro Sheldoniano, 1694), 237–39.
Available online on p. 6 §9 (using the DFG viewer) at: http://digital.wlb-stuttgart.de/sammlungen/sammlungsliste/werksansicht/?id=6&no_cache=1&tx_dlf%5Bid%5D=5216&tx_dlf%5Bpage%5D=6.