The Easter Bunny 复活节兔子

 　　The bountiful Easter bunnies have become the most favorite Easter symbol. It's universal and secular¹ in its appeal. And, most important of all, it relates to Easter historically.

　　However, one fact has got to be made clear. It is the hare, and not the rabbit, that should be treated as the true symbol of Easter. Though both of them belong to the 'Lagomorpha' family and have most of things in common, there are some differences.

　　If you go by the history, since the ancient times the hare has been a symbol for the moon. Not the rabbit. And the legend says, the hare never closes its eyes, not even for a single blink!

　　The reason for having such a belief may be rooted in the fact that hares, not rabbits, are born with eyes open. Rabbits are born blind.

　　The ancient Egyptians related hares to the moon. Egyptian name for hare was 'un', meaning 'open'. And they were beloved to be watching the full moon opened eyes throughout the night.

　　And this fertility factor may hold the key in making rabbit more familiar as Easter symbol in America, as against the traditional hare. Rabbits beat hares by being more prolific². The German immigrants, who brought in most of the Teutonic Easter traditions here, made rabbits so popular among the non-German kids.

　　The German children used to have rabbit's nests filled with decorated eggs. They also used to build nests. They looked so attractive that even the non-German kids demanded such gifts on the Easter.

1 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

2 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。