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The blustery March winds are spent. April showers nurture the earth as spring gently awakens. The scent of soft pink cherry blossoms floats gently in the air and bright yellow daffodils cheerily poke their heads above the ground. The grass is greening and birds are singing sweetly. Soft little chicks scurry about while lambs take their first wobbly steps. Amidst all this lovely new life, a furry little gent with floppy ears and a cottontail is hopping down the bunny trail.

He knows that Easter is this Sunday and he’s been extremely busy getting ready for the big day! When he comes to visit he’ll be bringing baskets of prettily painted eggs, jellybeans and chocolate rabbits.

You may not know that the Easter Bunny has been at work for a very long time. Like Santa Claus, he’s young at heart and doesn’t show his age. When he first appeared on the scene in ancient Egypt, he was a symbol of new life, fertility and the moon. In the Egyptian culture he also signified the resurrective powers of the god Osiris. When Christians began to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, they set the actual Easter date by the moon. As a symbol of resurrection and the moon, our friend became a natural part of the new holiday!

Then quite some time later, around the 1500s, he was discovered to be quite busy in Germany. In the 1800s there must have been more Easter Bunny sightings, because German pastry chefs were inspired to create the first Easter Bunny cookies.

When German settlers arrived in America, many of them settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. The newly settled German children knew that if they were good, the “Oschter Hase”, or Easter Bunny would visit them. In those days the children had to make their own nests and hide them in the house, barn or garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets. They would fill them with soft spring grass or newly mown hay to make a soft cushion. Easter morning the nests would be full of brightly colored eggs and candy rabbits!

These days the Easter Bunny is quite busy delivering a wide variety of candies and decorated eggs all over the country. Sometimes he uses little nests and sometimes woven baskets. You just never know what surprise he has in store for you. Do you think he knows your favorite color? or your favorite candy? Keep an eye out this weekend and see if you can catch a glimpse of our very old, but very young at heart, Easter Bunny.