Just Who is the Easter Bunny?

March 4, 2026 Jillian Novak

The Strange History of the Easter Bunny

Ever wondered why we have baskets of brightly-colored eggs and chocolate rabbits galore around Easter time? We have, too!

Does the Easter Bunny Have Ancient Origins?

Yes, it turns out that rabbits—or more specifically, hares—have been venerated in Europe since before Roman times. In fact, Caesar even noted that the Britons refused to eat hare because of the animal’s religious significance in that land.¹

Of course, the Roman ruler wouldn’t have been a stranger to the religious connotations hares had to the Greeks; in the Grecian religion, hares were symbolic of fertility and were even sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And given how heavily the Romans’ own religion borrowed from Greek traditions, it is not difficult to see why Caesar might notice a similar detail in the Briton’s foreign religious practices.¹

What are the Medieval Roots of The Easter Bunny?

After the Roman era and well into the medieval period, hares continued to have a connection with the mythological and supernatural in much of northern Europe, giving rise to an assortment of “witch-scaring” traditions that took place around Easter-time. In these communities, the belief that witches could take the form of hares to make people and livestock ill was widespread, so the symbolism of Easter ending the dark, cold months of winter, driving out the spirits of illness and famine with the beginning of spring was a fitting metaphor for the need of a community to drive out the suffering and evils supposedly brought about by witchcraft during the winter. These community events were especially common in the Nordic and Germanic countries, where they held Easter Fire celebrations, while in England, people had begun eating hares to scare away witches.², ³, ⁴

Nevertheless, the concept of hares, witchcraft, and Easter were all firmly intertwined by this time period.

When did the Easter Bunny Become Popular with Children?

German children were searching for eggs left behind by the Easter Bunny by at least the 16^th century. In fact, the first mention of an egg-carrying rabbit came from a German book in 1572: “Do not worry if the Easter Bunny escapes you; should we miss his eggs, we will cook the nest,” the text reads. A century later, another text mentions the Easter Bunny, describing it as an “old fable”, and suggesting that the story about the egg-carrying rabbit had been around for some time period before the 1572 book was written and/or published.⁵

Building on this historiography of the hare, the Brothers Grimm continued exploring the Germanic connection between hares and religion. They hypothesized that the Easter Hare was connected to an ancient Germanic goddess named “Ostara.” Jacob Grimm deduced the name of his hypothetical goddess from the writings of The Venerable Bede, an 8th-century British monk who wrote about an Anglo-Pagan goddess named Eostre, from which the modern English term “Easter” supposedly derives.¹. However, controversy still surrounds this claim, and its veracity is doubted.⁶

When did the Easter Bunny turn into Chocolate?

By the 18^th century, Germans immigrating to the United States had taken their rabbit-centric traditions of egg-and-treat carrying hares with them, and by the 19^th century, candy shops up and down the Eastern seaboard were selling rabbit-shaped candies.⁷

But the chocolate bunny as we know it was introduced in the United States by Robert Strohecker in Reading, PA in 1890. Strohecker was trying to draw in business for Easter with a massive chocolate rabbit sculpture. That same year, a German chocolatier in Munich was making molded chocolate bunnies for easter baskets.⁷

By 1915, chocolate bunnies were being mass produced in America, and in 1934, the first accordion-playing bunny was born. Their popularity took a dip during the World War II era due to rationing efforts, but today, the tradition of chocolate Easter bunnies is still alive and well, including here at Euphoria Chocolate Company!⁷

Shop Euphoria's Chocolate Rabbits Now!

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