The Easter Season
Non-Christian Activities During the Easter Season
The word "Easter" is Christian, and it should always be used appropriately.  Although Easter's message of salvation has tremendous importance to Christianity, the Easter Season has been subjected to intrusive commercialization.  Christians need to begin evaluating the non-Christian impact that this intrusion has on our Easter Season, and consider how we might begin adjusting that impact to keep the focus at Easter on Christ.

Items made specifically for the Easter Season which merely replace the Christian symbols with magical animals or any other non-Christian symbols or messages are inappropriate.  Since such items can grossly change the meaning of Easter, we encourage you to consider not buying them.

Today the Easter bunny is the most prevalent and misleading symbol associated with Easter.  When you search the web with your computer using the key words "Easter bunny", there are over 5 million matches!  There are an enormous number of Easter bunny items being promoted which in total can easily overwhelm Easter's true message.  The bunny items include toys, games, candy, books, movies, TV programs, cards, e-cards, and computer screen savers and wallpaper.  The bunny generates billions of dollars in profits for secular interests, so these companies will always strive to retain it.

However, the bunny (or hare) symbol is older than Christianity.  As early as 2000 B.C. the hare symbol was associated with death and rebirth in Mesopotamia and Syria, and later was associated with the Egyptian god Osiris.  The ancient Greeks associated the hare with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and also with Eros, the god of sexual attraction.  The Romans associated the hare with the goddess Diana.  The hare's great fertility made it a symbol of springtime in much of pre-Christian Europe.  In Norse mythology the hare symbolized Freya, the goddess of sexual attraction.  It is for all these reasons that the bunny was selected as the symbol for Playboy Magazine.

Jesus Christ's Resurrection coincided with the pagan festival of Eastre (Latin: Oestre), which was celebrated on the vernal equinox. The fertility goddess Eastre was worshipped by Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.  Although Easter obtained its name from the Eastre celebration, the pagan rabbit symbol was avoided by Christians. In German folklore the hare became connected to Easter by linking it to spring, fertility, and new life.  During the 1800's, German immigrants brought the idea of today's Easter bunny that delivers Easter eggs to America.  Now that secular interests have usurped so much control of the Easter Bunny and its message, Christians should prayerfully consider avoiding it.

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