Have you ever wondered why a rabbit brings you eggs at Easter? Well, you're in luck, because we've got ten lovely facts all about the Easter Bunny and his history! Find out where he comes from, what he symbolises, and what other curious animals bring Easter eggs in other parts of the world! And when you've finished checking these out, what about having a look at more Easter stuff here! Find out the history of Easter with these cool facts, or why not enjoy some funny bunny jokes! We've even got an Easter quiz if you fancy testing your trivia!

1. The Easter Bunny Has Pagan Roots

It seems likely that the idea of a rabbit bringing Easter eggs is probably more to do with earlier Pagan religions in Europe than Christianity. Sadly there is no evidence of an Easter Bunny in the bible, which means he's more likely to have come from other folklore that came before Easter as a Christian holiday. Rabbits pop up in lots of folk stories in Europe, and are often seen as either wise or sometimes a trickster. Which would made sense, since they bring eggs, a pretty random thing for a rabbit to have!

2. Rabbits Are Associated With Spring and Rebirth

The most likely reason that the Easter Bunny is a rabbit is that Easter is a spring festival, and rabbits and hares are associated with spring. Spring is a time when hares can often be seen 'boxing' (fighting) in fields, and its also a time when baby bunnies are born, so you're more likely to see rabbits and hares at Easter than other times of the year! They are also often connected with rebirth and resurrection, which is very fitting for the Easter story!

3. And So Are Eggs!

Eggs are also a common symbol of fertility, as they are linked to the idea of the life cycle: A egg is laid, it hatches, out comes a chicken, and the whole cycle continues! They are still used today to represent life and rebirth, which, as we mentioned, is extra important to the festival of Easter!

4. He Used To Be More Like Father Christmas

Nowadays the Easter Bunny will leave Easter eggs out for you to find, but once upon a time his role was a lot more like Santa Claus - he would decide if children had been 'good' enough to deserve eggs, or whether they were naughty and got nothing! Luckily now everyone gets eggs!

5. The Easter Bunny Probably Came From Germany

Germany is the country most often associated with the Easter Bunny's origins. For starters, the Germanic goddess Ēostre was associated with spring and renewal, and her name is thought to be the origin of the word Easter. There is also a German folk figure, the Osterhare, who was first mentioned in German writings hundreds of years ago, and is very similar to today's Easter bunny, bringing eggs to children at Easter time.

6. But Is Now Popular All Over The World

Today Easter celebrations take place all over the world, and the Easter Bunny is very popular! Lots of people dress up as the Easter Bunny, wear rabbit ears, or hold Easter egg hunts to celebrate. Nearly 100 different countries celebrate Easter!

7. You Can Take Part In Lots of Different Easter Egg Hunts

There are hundreds of Easter egg hunts going on all over the UK in the run up to Easter, so you won't miss out a chance to meet the Easter Bunny! Hampton Court in London has a special gold Lindt bunny hunt, if you're feeling fancy, or The National Trust for Scotland has Easter Egg hunts all over the country, including lots of castles! In Wales there's a dragon egg hunt at Gwrych Castle, if you're feeling especially brave!

8. The Largest Easter Egg Hunt Had Half A Million Eggs!

Yup, according to the Guinness book of world records, the largest ever Easter egg hunt took place in Florida, USA, and included 501,000 and almost 10,000 children taking part! Could you eat that many eggs?

9. It's A Bilby In Australia

In Australia, its actually time for Autumn when Easter comes around, so instead of having a spring theme like a rabbit, they have an Easter Bilby! The bilby is a mammal native to Australia that was in danger of dying out, until someone started a campaign to promote them as Australia's Easter animal and help save them! Now children in Australia can buy chocolate bilbys at Easter to celebrate this cool animal!

10. And A Cuckoo in Switzerland

If you though the bilby was an off choice, wait until you hear about the Easter cuckoo! In Switzerland, the cuckoo symbolises birth and renewal, just like the Easter Bunny, and so the cuckoo brings eggs instead of a rabbit! To be fair, it's not actually that weird - I mean, at least cuckoo's actually lay eggs! Where's the Easter Bunny getting them from?

11. People tend to eat their chocolate rabbits in a specific way

The world of research can shine a light on questions which have puzzled humans since time began. One such area of investigation is how people approach eating chocolate rabbits at Easter. Thanks to their hours of their tireless query, it can be revealed that 76% of people eat the ears first. Just 5% begin with the rabbit's feet and 4% start with the tail. Which means the remaining 15% seem to just start randomly, like they were chomping on a chocolatey apple.