Easter bunny

The Easter Bunny was first mentioned before the 17th century by the Germanic people of Europe, who established the Osterhase—a rabbit who delivered presents to children at Easter time. According to History.com, when Germanic immigrants arrived in America in the 1700s, they carried with them this practice to Pennsylvania. Children would leave carrots out for the Osterhase, similar to how they would leave cookies for Santa at Christmas.

Another widely held belief about the Easter Bunny

Another popular theory that some believe is the origin of the Easter Bunny is the myth of Ostara. The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century scholar, said in his work The Reckoning of Time that the term Easter derives from Eostre (another version of the name Ostara). Fruchtman expands on this notion, claiming that Bede (an English monk) said that the name derives from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess whose feast day in the spring corresponded with the Christian paschal festival. However, Eostre is not mentioned in any other source, and it’s completely plausible that Bede made her up. Bede, on the other hand, makes no mention of rabbits or eggs being linked with her.