A rabbit in the grass

© wisan224/Getty Images Plu

Hop into spring. The Easter Bunny’s story

Our homepage photo today was taken in Thailand, but it sure looks like a great place to hide brightly coloured eggs to us. German Lutherans created the character of the ‘Easter hare’ that is the basis for the modern-day Easter Bunny. Their version of the bunny judged whether children had been good or bad during the Eastertide season—with well-behaved kids getting a treat. But rabbits and hares have long been associated with springtime rebirth and fertility, so perhaps the leap from gentle backyard visitor to keeper of spring’s ‘naughty or nice’ list was inevitable for these fuzzy critters.