Tidbit #20 - April 15, 2011

2nd tidbit of the day.

This is also our 20th tidbit in the blog's history!! So sit back and learn your 20th fact.

In light of the upcoming Christian holiday, I'm also making my first seasonal tidbit! Can you guess what it is?

No? Then check out right below for a hint (it's the answer):

Question: What are the origins of the Easter bunny?


Answer: Wikipedia sure has some interesting stuff, wouldn't you agree? Here's what the millions of writers have typed up about the origins of the Easter bunny:

Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and southwestern Germany, where the practice was first recorded in a German publication in the 1500s (early 16th century). The first edible Easter Eggs were made in Germany during the early 19th century and were made of pastry and sugar.

The Easter Bunny was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. The arrival of the Osterhase was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures", similar to the arrival of Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve.

According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The "O_ster Haws_e" would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets.

Are you a text-wall-skipper? Read the summary:

Summary: Waay back when (we're talking Bronze Age), the bringing of easter eggs seems to have taken its roots in different parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Southwest Germany got with it, too, in the 1500s. The Easter Bunny (or "osterhase"), however, was introduced to the U.S. by the Germans who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the 1700s. Tradition said that if children laid brightly colored nests (generally made our of caps or bonnets) in hidden areas of the house, that "O_ster Haws_e" would put eggs in those nests.

Eventually, the process modernized, evolving into the happy-go-lucky bunny and eggs we know of today.

Unfortunately, those delicious Easter eggs weren't part of the easter tradition until the 1800s.

I tip my cap to whoever was able to read that, but to the rest of you, here is your condensed answer:

The Easter bunny seems to have taken its roots in the German settlers (for whom it had been a tradition since the days of the Holy Roman Empire) who came to the U.S. in the 1700s.


And a very happy Easter to everyone visiting tidbitsz.blogspot.com!