The Real Easter Bunny?

Spring equinox marks the point in the year when the days and nights are of equal length, approximately 12 hours each. Many cultures mark the spring equinox with festivals. Easter is of course celebrated very close to the spring equinox. The chocolate and brightly coloured eggs mark the new spring, celebrating rebirth and new life. I recently read about an interesting link between Lapwings, a popular fenland bird, and Easter eggs.

Lapwings are ground nesting birds and often breed in the same places as Hares who also nest in the open, making a shallow scrape or form. In the past, this led to confusion about who laid the eggs, the Hares or the birds. Lapwings have been known to take over a Hare’s form to make a nest leading to further confusion and leading to a belief that Hares laid eggs. Could this confusion have led to the legend of the Easter Bunny perhaps? With folklore, anything’s possible.