What Does Our Annual Easter Basket Drive Have to do with Jesus’ Resurrection?

What do Easter bunnies and Easter baskets have to do with Jesus' resurrection? It's a question I had to research after reading a couple of comments that were left on a recent post about our Annual Easter Basket Drive. Rubie Villanueva  wrote, "My daughters appreciate your charitable work, but they said that Easter is not about the basket or the bunny!" Rosa Solano agreed with Rubie's comment, and added, " To this day I haven't done the basket and eggs thing for [my son]...don't want him to confuse the meaning of Easter."

So what do Easter bunnies and Easter baskets have to do with Jesus' resurrection? The short answer is nothing, really. In fact, the Easter we now know originated in the pagan world and was incorporated into the celebration of the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. You can watch the History channel video below, which explains things more fully, if you're so inclined. 

So while, yes, Easter is about more than baskets and bunnies and one shouldn't neglect the true reason for the season, I see no harm in participating in the whole Easter bunny aspects of the holiday either.

JUST ASKING: How do you explain – or how did you explain -- to your children that the "Easter Bunny" comes and brings a basket full of candy? Even if you tell them it really comes from you, how do (or did) you explain that it's being done to celebrate Jesus' resurrection?

The History of the Holidays: Easter