Easter

As I was sitting in Church this morning, humoring my mother on Easter Sunday, I began wondering how the resurrection of Jesus came to be equated with cute bunnies, candy, and eggs. They seem somewhat contradictory. When I returned home from brunch and lapsed into mimosa/food coma, I googled the origins of Easter. Apparently, the bunny stuff comes from some sort of Germanic tradition called Osterhase (the Germans also invented Santa Claus). Thank you Germany. German settlers first brought the tradition to Pennsylvania in the 1500's. Jesus was conveniently crucified right around passover, so Christians that used to be Jews just made themselves a new holiday when they decided to begin the New Testament and stop being Jews. They didnt want to eat matza anymore I guess. The concept of lent seems to derive from Passover- except Catholics can give up whatever they want (not restricted to leavened bread). I think people decided to make the bunny holiday on Easter because the crucifixion thing is so morbid. Bunnies, bonnets, and candy are much better things to celebrate. Its hard to sell a holiday when the only image to put out there is the crucifix. By my estimation, by the year 2200, Passover and Easter will have re-evolved into the same holiday again, complete with an Easter Bunny, some other fictitious creature, and more stuff for consumers to buy.