Lambs, bunnies, chickens – what do we know about Easter symbolisms?

Prof Maciej Janeczek, head of the Department of Animal Biostructure and Physiology and a specialist in archaeozoology, explains that the animal symbolism associated with Easter stems from its association with the the spring equinox.

– The day lengthens, the night shortens, nature awakens to life from its winter hibernation. This phenomenon has been observed by humans for centuries and is inevitably reflected in mythology – says the professor, citing the Sumerian myth of Dumusi and Inan, the ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis, and the Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Korah, who changed her name to Persephone when she became the wife of the god of the underworld Hades.

– All these myths tell us about death and re-birth, directly referencing the natural world. Dumuzi, the deity of vegetation and harvest, was originally worshipped in Babylon and later in other countries of ancient Mesopotamia. He was depicted with grains in his hands or on his shoulders. Every year at the end of the harvest, he descended into the underworld to reappear together with the awakening of nature - Professor Janeczek makes no secret of the fact that Easter symbolism is a peculiar mixture of pagan and Judaic meanings. The lamb, which symbolises Jesus, both his sacrifice on the cross and as the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep, is rooted not only in the words of John the Baptist, who said to his cousin that he was the sacrificial lamb.

– The lamb is a symbol of innocence, of purity. Jesus was slaughtered at the time of Passover, which is celebrated to commemorate the escape of the Israelites from Egypt. The Jews marked the doorsteps of their homes with the blood from the sacrificial lamb, in order to let Yahweh know to bypass them and not to kill their first-born sons, but to direct his wrath at the Egyptians. But this symbolism is much older. Pastoral peoples, together with the spring equinox, offered selected animals from those they grazed to the chthonic deity. These included innocent lambs – explains Professor Maciej Janeczek.

Another symbol associated with Easter is the egg – an equally universal symbol also linked to ancient religions, e.g. Hinduism, as Brahma was born from an egg, but also Helen of Troy was hatched from an egg.

– Easter eggs were already known in Sumer. In ancient Egypt, the egg was the symbol of the god Ptah, and Christianity links it to Mary Magdalene's visit to Emperor Tiberius. There is an apocryphal account of her presenting the news of Jesus' resurrection to the emperor. Tiberius told her that the egg would sooner turn red than he would believe her story. And the egg turned red before his eyes – says Professor Janeczek with a smile, adding that another animal symbol associated with Easter is the bunny (in older times it would have been the hare), which leaves presents for children.

Its appearance in this catalogue is unclear, although it symbolises vitality and fertility. Some researchers link it to the pre-Christian celebration of the equinox and the goddess Eostre, also called Ostara in Germanic. According to one legend, she was walking through a meadow when she found an injured bird. She took it in her arms and, saving its life, turned it into a bunny.

– The transformation was not final, as this bunny retained the ability to lay eggs and, in gratitude, presented the goddess with one that she had laid herself. This goddess was first written about by Bede the Venerable, a monk who lived in the eighth century in Northumbria, so it can be cautiously assumed that this myth is of Anglo-Saxon or Norse origin. Another light on the place of the rabbit in Easter symbolism is shed by the belief that this animal sleeps with its eyes open, which was long believed. And this sleep with open eyes was supposed to make the bunny one of the first to see the resurrection of Jesus – says Professor Janeczek, who admits that the Easter list also includes a chick - hatched from an egg, of course, but also symbolising the sun and the birth of new life.

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