How long has Easter been around?

Like many of the traditions tied in with our celebrations of holidays, The Easter Bunny originated in Germany. In the 1500's, a German story told of a mother who hid colored eggs for her children to find. After finding them, they saw a big rabbit hop away and believed it must have been responsible for leaving the eggs. By the 1800's, the Germans were making rabbit shaped pastries for Easter. German immigrants brought the custom to America along with holiday games that had children making nests for the Easter Bunny with the expectation they would be filled with colored eggs and gummy candies, the predecessors of our jellybeans.