The Easter Bunny aka Osterhase

The Goddess of Fertility in Northern Europe before the coming of the Christians was Eostre. It is in fact from her that our own word for Easter comes. The consort of Eostre was none other than a hare, that great animal symbol of fertility. According to some traditions, Eostre cast the hare into the Heavens, creating the constellation we know today as Lepus the Hare. Some stories also say that Eostre gave Lepus the ability to lay eggs once a year, eggs also being an ancient symbol of fertility.Osterhase: The Easter Bunny made his way to the United States in the 1700s with the German immigrants who settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch country, bringing the tradition of Osterhase ("Easter Hare") to the new world. According to the tradition, the children would build bright-colored nests to hide in their homes. If the children had been good, the Osterhase would lay eggs in the nests. As this tradition spread, it evolved into Easter baskets and egg hunts.