The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-30
THE EASTER BUNNY
HAS A PLACE IN LEGEND THAT
is CENTURIES
CID
ORIGIN OF QUAINT CUSTOM
Because Bunny Is Only Quadrupcd
ROrn with Eyes Open Is Sup
posed to Be Ally of
the Moon.
Special to The Globe.


BOSTON, Mass, March Somehow
or other the hare and rabbit have become
features of the Easter festival, and at
tempts have been made to discover how
bunny attained this distinction.
Since Easter as a holiday really dates
back to long before the Christian era it
becomes to go away back into the twi-
light of history for the origin of the Gus
tom.
Both Egyptian and Persian history fur
nish US with some explanation of the
subject.
Curl usy enough IN the folklore of many
countries, especially including those Of
lndo-E European and Asiatic origin there
has always existed a connection between
the hare and the moon.
Since The date of Easter depends upon
the moon. it may properly be classed
as a lunar holiday. Be it here remem-
Eered that Easter falls upon the first
Sunday after the fourteenth day of the
moon that happens to be reigning at the
time Of the vernal equinox.
Many reasons are given why the hare
has been considered symbolic of the
moon, some Of these are probably real
and some fictitious.
he hare is nocturnal animal, and
ovinS TO its timid character comes out
only at night to feed. The female hare
carries her young for a month, which
represents the lunar circle. While the
yOeEg Of most quadrupeds are both blind
the young Of the hare is born with its
eyes wide omen.
In ancient Egypt the hare was called
''un." which means open" The moon
was the oper-eyed watcher of the skies
Al night. While the hare born with open
eyes, was faDled never to close them
From this came the Latin expression
somnus lep0rinus, for an open-eyed sleep
Undoubtedly the old English superstition
that the brains and eye Of a hare form a
cure for somnolency sprang from the
same idea.
The Egyptian expression "un' meant
not alone hare" and open" but also
period. IN this account the hare came to
represent periodicity, not alone lunar, but
human as wei, While in it's capacity Of
opener it became associated with the
opening of the New Year, which formerly
was coinc'dent with the vernal equinox
as also with the new birth in youth and
maiden. In this way the hare is sup
posed to have become assicated in the
popular mind with the Easter egg. broken
to signify the opening of the year. Ger
: man children are still told hares lay the
Easter eggs.
But the prettiest explanations of the
connection Of the hare or rabbit with
Easter come to US in the form of legends
this. once there was a nice KIND little
rabbit walking along a quiet country road
on a pleasant Easter eve. AS he hoped
quietly along in the grass by the roadside
he saw a wicked fox go bY. smacking his
bloody lips with much gusto. Farther
along he came to a lot of hens feathers
and then he surmised what the willy
Reynard had been doing. Soon the rabbit
came across a nest of beautiful white
eggs. He knew that the poor mother hen
had been eaten by the cruel fox and
could never return to her nest so he
stretched himself across the eggs and
went to sleep.
When he awoke in the morning it was
Easter and the nest was full of little
dOwny, white chickens. The chickens
thought the rabbit was their mamma, and
cried out for something to eat, which
the rabbit fetched them as soon as he
understood what was wanted. The rabbit
fed and kept the little chicks warm
until they We're able to take care of
themselves, and has ever since been re
garded as the genius of Easter time in
Germany, where no home would be com
plete without an "Oster Hares next 8"
The nest serves the same purpose as the
Christmas stocking or wooden Shoes
for in it the children find their presents
for Easter.
There is another legend of Dutch orr
gin, connecting the rabbit with Easter
At the time this happened the people of
Holland We're very poor. The winter had
been very hard and Easter long in COM
ing. Storms of wind and rain had swept
over the country, destroying many homes
and lives. Although the fathers and
mothers had worked very hard they had
little TO spend for the children
On previous casters they have been
accustomed to having happy time as
at Christmas, and making the children
nice presents.
The mothers put their heads together
to see what could be done in the emer-
gency. Every family kept hens and
chickens, so they had an abundance of
eggs. TIE mothers colored lot of these
eggs green, blue, purple, red and yellow
and placed them in the nests under the
bushes.
When the children were out gathering
flowers on Easter morning they found a
nest filed with these beautiful colorel
eggs and just as they approached it a
white rabbit ran away into the woods
'Ah!" said the children. Bunny brought
us our beautiful egSs,' and ever since
then the children have believed that the
rabbits brought them these beautiful gifts
fir Easter.
So that is haw the correlation has come
about between the rabbit the egg and
the celebration of Easter.
LILIES OF PEACE.