This is apparently the origin of the Easter Bunny: Venerable Bede's writings also show that he derived the modern word "Easter" from the Norse Ostara or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. This festival of spring took place around March 21 (modern calendar) when nature is in resurrection after the darkness of winter. In myths, the goddess Eastre who saved a bird whose wings were frozen from the harsh winter by turning it into a hare. This magical hare could actually lay eggs. Thus, this became a proposed origination of the Easter Bunny symbol. Prior to the Christian era, rabbits were also a symbol of fertility, aptly so for their reproductive abilities.
