Lori Roy, AMD 6

For this AMD, I reseached Easter tradtions in Germany. I did find out that the Easter bunny was a German! It was originally called the Easter Hare and was a symbol of fertility and that Easter is deeply rooted in German culture. There is even a town in lower Saxony called Easter Egg Town (Ostereisstadt) that receives letters mailed to the Easter Bunny in the same way that the North Pole receives letters for Santa. The German postal service,  Deutsche Post, has even created a website for the Easter Bunny that has a few lines on the homepage that says "Bald is Ostern!"

Easter eggs also originated in Germany. German archaeologists have found eggs left on graves as an offering of new life. The same way that  graves hide a life, eggs appear to hide life that is dormant. Also, eggs laid on Good Friday and cooked on Easter Sunday would promote the fertility of trees and crops and protect against sudden death.

There is also another Easter- related day celebrated in Germany, which is Gruendonnerstag. It actually has no connection to green but stems from an old German word, greinen, meaning to groan, mourn or weep, because it commemorated Last Supper and the betrayal of Judas. Despite the actual meaning of the name, people celebrate the day in Germany by dying green eggs.

Also, the German word for Lent is Fastenzeit.