the.com/easter bunny

means The egg-bringing rabbit figure of Easter folklore, who supposedly hops around delivering candy and colored eggs to children overnight.

from Traces back to the 'Osterhase,' an egg-laying hare first written about among German Lutherans in the 1600s-1700s, who judged children's behavior much like Santa would later do. German immigrants carried the tradition to America in the 1700s, especially into Pennsylvania Dutch communities, where children built nests for the hare to fill with eggs — eventually swapping nests for baskets and hard-boiled eggs for chocolate ones. Why a hare laid eggs at all is murky, though some trace the hare's ties to spring fertility folklore, and the egg's own ancient status as a symbol of new life made the pairing feel natural enough to stick.