(Episode 515): So Glad You Asked! The Easter Bunny…

Transcript! Because accessibility is mandatory…

PDF transcript. Also available via our Buzzsprout page.

Shownotes!

Because citations are political…

Strictly speaking, none of you asked about the Easter Bunny. A lot of you did, however, ask how Pagan rituals got appropriated into Christian mainstream holidays and, in turn, became global secular phenomenon. We unpack all of that (and Ilyse loses her composure epically) in this very special episode.

“there’s no such thing as the pagans trademark, right?

Point number two that you’ve made is that all of this is sort of anti semitic because it’s really about making Easter as important and therefore more important than Passover.

The bunny is new in the historical framework.
”

— Dr. Megan Goodwin

The 101: Where we did the professor work…

So, what do the killjoys want you to know about Easter?

But what’s the deal with the bunny?

So, there is evidence of an Easter Fox. Folks in Lower Saxony and Eastern Westphalia used to walk around with a fox asking for donations after the Vernal Equinox. But the bunny likely comes from an association with the Norse goddess Freya, who is seen with hares in folktales.

The Easter bunny is a super new addition to the holiday, there wasn’t always an egg laying bunny…
Easter was not necessarily co-opted from “pagan” groups, because we don’t have evidence of a comparable holiday nor is there a singular pagan group that we could even trace.
Easter, in its origins and in modernity, has been more about anti-semitic efforts to make a Christian holiday bigger than Passover.

What’s the thesis here?

Easter, and the ways that it has been popularized over time, is very complex! It may have its roots in some pagan and witchy cultural spaces, but there is also not a direct holiday or festival that we are able to trace it to in page communities. Instead, it is really important to focus on the ways that Easter takes away from space that should be given to Pesach.