Along with the traditional spring time visit to your house from the fuzzy Easter Bunny and the warm family get togethers filled with an endless table of tasty baked ham and delicious side dishes, the Easter egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. Exchanging eggs in the spring time is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by early Christians. From the earliest of times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth and fertility in most cultures. Often, eggs were wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant and not of monetary wealth, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers. In today’s Easter traditions, children hunt inside or out, colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets
along with today’s modern version of real Easter eggs…those made of plastic or chocolate candy.
The modern familiar tradition of the Easter basket is a memory filled time that dates back many years. The story is that when your children are fast asleep, the fluffy Easter Bunny hippity hops into your home the night before Easter (quite a bit like when Santa Claus pays you a visit every Christmas Eve….that is, if your children are on the nice list!). That clever little bunny finds the trickiest place in your house to hide your Easter basket before he scurries out and onto the next house. He will usually hide several Easter Eggs around the house or in the yard as well for your children to enjoy finding when they have discovered their Easter baskets. When your children awake on Easter morning (much like they do when it is Christmas morning), they quickly run downstairs and begin their adventurous search for where the tricky Easter Bunny hid their baskets. Rumor has it that there have been many an Easter basket found mysteriously hidden inside a washing machine or dryer, behind shower curtains inside a bath tub or behind couches or long draperies throughout their house. Besides an assortment of candy filled plastic Easter eggs inside your basket, the Easter bunny will sometimes leave extra special gifts like stickers, books, princess figurines or toy cars. Occasionally, the generous Easter bunny will leave more elaborate gifts such as video games and DVD movies. What a tricky little rabbit that is!
