Thoughts about Easter Bunny

"The Easter Bunny doesn’t come to our house. There are a few reasons why my husband and I have chosen not to “do” the Easter Bunny, The Easter Bunny, Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. are all characters that families tell their children to believe in. They can’t see these characters, the kids learn about them from what their parent’s tell them and one day they find out that it was all a myth.

And then there is God; the kids can’t see Him, they learn about Him primarily from their parents and a naive mind could then think that God is mythical as well. I don’t want my children to grow up wondering if we are going to pull the “God” rug out from under them like we did the Easter Bunny. I think there is great potential for confusion."

- Katie

God IS mythical. Not in the "imaginary", "fictitious" or "based on false collective belief", but as part of the story that is so old it cannot be proven to be true or false.

Easter bunny is not mythical. Easter bunny is pure imagination. Invented fairytale character, imaginary creature. To play Easterbunny with your kids is as safe as reading them fairytales - or any fictional stories - allowing them to watch children's movies or participate in any action where imaginary characters are involved.

Now, I don't believe in Santa in that I'd believe any person pretending to be Santa is anything but a person pretending to be Santa. But I believe in Santa as a personification of the well-will, generosity and kindness that infuses December. I have always thought of him as a sort of special angel. Put in place by Goddess to remind people to be kind at the heart of winter and take care of those with less. I see Santa as sort of facade for the anonymous good-doers.

I have also never thought of God and Santa as similar concepts. God is the Creatrix of everything, omnipresent and very real in that She speaks to me all the time. Santa is more of a storybook character that we make believe. I don't make believe God. I KNOW God is. I feel Her presence in my life all the time. 

Easterbunny is a symbol of childish joy. The gifts of Easterbunny are silly and funny, Easterbunny makes grown-ups play. If you look at the other feasts around 20th of March, you'll have St.Patrick's with leprechauns and you'll have April's Fools... There's the Annunciation, which in Swedish is "Vår Fru Dag" (The Day of Our Lady) which has turned in the folk mouth to "våffeldag" (Waffleday). There's the Crane Day, that reminds a bit of St Nicholas Day in Holland - the Crane leaves presents in children's shoes and while doing so leaves sooty footprints all over the home... and the kids follow the footprints to find the gifts. Silly, funny, joyful celebrations.

I don't think it's a good idea to reduce the Easterbunny into a caricature built of lies. But, that's me. I believe in the wisdom of people, and as the Easterbunny has become a tradition, there must be something in it the human kind needs. I suppose it has something to do with what the farmanimals do the first day of green grass... I don't know what it's called in English, but everyone with cows or sheep knows that the first day the animals get out after long winter inside, they act like wild kids. :-D Grown up, serious and distinquished cow ladies jump and dance and frolick... It's absolutely lovely.

And I think it's the same mechanism with people too. There's something with spring that is relieving, soothing and makes us want to act as if we were sorrowless children again.

BTW, I don't get the photos of children sitting in Santa's or Easter bunny's lap... and how could any kid believe Easter bunny is real, when it is so not a bunny, but something big and scary and strange and... DANG! I'd scream! :-D