{"id":157061,"date":"2026-04-04T09:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/157061\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T09:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:16:07","slug":"the-easter-bunnys-pennsylvania-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/157061\/","title":{"rendered":"The Easter Bunny\u2019s Pennsylvania origins"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The Easter Bunny may be known for hopping across the country each spring, but the origins of how the tale became a celebrated tradition in America can be traced back to Pennsylvania.\n<\/p>\n

German immigrants introduced the tradition in the 1600s, bringing with them the legend of the Osterhase, or Easter hare\u2014a folkloric figure said to lay colorful eggs for children.\n<\/p>\n

One of the earliest known depictions of the Easter Bunny in the United States comes from an illustration by Johann Conrad Gilbert, a Pennsylvania German artist and schoolmaster. It\u2019s on display at Delaware\u2019s Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWinterthur is truly fortunate to have one of the earliest known American depictions of the Easter rabbit,\u201d said Kedra Kearis, associate curator of art and visual culture. \u201cIt was brought into the collection just fifteen years ago. But [it] very much reflects our founder\u2019s \u2013 Henry Francis du Pont \u2013 desire to show the lives and traditions of early Americans, and in this case, how they produced and shared images.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Kearis described the watercolor, created between 1800 and 1810, as a small yet vivid image, only a few inches wide, of a spotted yellow rabbit mid-leap with a basket of pastel eggs.\n<\/p>\n

The museum also showcases one of the earliest known dyed Easter eggs in the United States, from 1850, which further shows how these customs were part of early American life.\n<\/p>\n

Allie Alvis, curator of special collections at Winterthur\u2019s library, said the tradition was rooted in German immigrants from the Palatinate region of Bavaria, where stories of an egg-laying hare were passed down and later adapted by Pennsylvania German families.\n<\/p>\n

She said the Easter Bunny\u2019s popularity grew in the 19th century as printed materials and illustrated postcards helped circulate the imagery more widely, turning a regional custom into a national symbol.\n<\/p>\n

Winterthur continues to celebrate its history through seasonal events and activities, including its annual Easter egg hunt, a member event now in its third year. The event features about 1,200 hidden eggs filled with treats and typically attracts between 150 and 200 attendees, including around 100 children, according to the museum\u2019s membership team.
\n\"EasterEaster egg, 1850. Gift of Jane and Gerald Katcher 2011.0035 (Courtesy of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library)\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42863,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-157061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-easter","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}