No Easter Bunny

As Michelle Malkin said, with the War on Christmas behind us, it's time for the War on Easter to begin.

Multiculturalism makes people think that some might be offended if they referred to the Easter Bunny, so malls are now referring to the Garden Bunny or the Mall Bunny.

Not wanting to offend people by referring to Merry Christmas, and insisting instead saying Happy Holidays, and refusing to say Christmas Tree, and instead saying Holiday Tree was bad enough, but the Easter Bunny is not even a Christian symbol. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Easter Egg also predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians. From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

J Rob said At the risk of being the old "party pooper", I have long wished to see the Easter Bunny divorced from the Christian observance of Easter.

I fully understand what he is saying. I never was too upset at Easter Bunnies and Easter Egg Hunts, just as I never was upset at Christmas Trees (whose origin is Pagan. The Norse pagans and Celtic Druids revered evergreens as manifestations of deity because they did not "die" from year to year but stayed green and alive when other plants appeared dead and bare. The trees represented everlasting life and hope for the return of spring. The druids decorated their trees with symbols of prosperity -- a fruitful harvest, coins for wealth and various charms such as those for love or fertility. Scandinavian Pagans are thought to be the first to bring their decorated trees indoors as this provided a warm and welcoming environment for the native fairy folk and tree elementals to join in the festivities. The Saxons, a Germanic pagan tribe, were the first to place lights on the their trees in the form of candles. Ancient Romans decorated their homes with greens at the Festival of Saturnalia, their New Year and exchanged evergreen branches with friends as a sign of good luck.

I don't expect people of other faiths (or no faith at all) to celebrate the Birth of Jesus or his Crucifixion and Resurection, but I wish they would just ignore the holiday, and let the 80 - 90 percent of us that do believe in Him, to have our celebration.