What are the origins of the Easter bunny?

The Easter Bunny has it's origins in which country?

• Answer:

  It comes from Germany where it is known as the Easter Hare, brought over by German immigrants. (The hare looks like a large long rabbit but is a different species) The Germans had a folk myth/joke/tease about hares laying eggs which is probably down to the fact that hares don't burrow, like rabbits, but make nests (called forms) in the open fields that look a bit like some bird's nests. Hares are particularly easy to spot in the spring when the males are competing for mates and are not hidden by tall crops. The eggs, by the way, are a way of celebrating the end of the Lenten fast.