"Let the War on Easter Begin!"

Anybody seen Harvey?

Ever wonder how the Christian feast day of the Resurrection turned into Easter? How the scriptural story of one man's being raised from the dead came to be celebrated with bunnies bringing colored eggs and candy in grassy baskets? [When I was a kid, we also received live baby chicks on Easter.] On its face it makes absolutely no sense. So, what gives?

A little research turned up the following: Plain and simple—the bunny, the basket, the eggs, and the chicks are all pagan symbols that have precisely nothing to do with Jesus and the resurrection. Fertility mostly. Wikipedia's got the lowdown. Others, here and here.

Btw: If you haven't seen it, the Southpark episode "Fantastic Easter Special" is a killer.