the Cross
At the Council of Nicaea in 325AD, Constantine decreed that the Cross was the official symbol of Christianity.


Hippity Hop Bunny
The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons via her earthly symbol... yup, it was the rabbit... and the Germans transported the symbol to Amerca but it was ignored by other Christians here until after the Civil War.


Chocolate Eggs?
Exchanging eggs in spring was a custom that was old before the Christians first celebrated Easter. The egg was the symbol of re-birth in most cultures and the eggs were wrapped in gold leaf by the wealthy or colored by boiling them with leaves or petals of certain flowers if you were poor (ie. a peasant).


Personal Thoughts
So now we buy new clothes and hide brightly colored hard boiled eggs out in the yard for the children to find and put the baskets with the fake green grass and loaded with chocolate eggs and bunnies inside the house... and hold in reverence a symbol of death in ancient times, the Cross... which to me would be like revering a bullet that slammed through a loved one killing them dead as a door nail... makes perfect sense to me (?). No matter what your belief, hold fast to it and rejoice in life everlasting.