復活節(Easter)是西方的一個重要節日，用來紀念耶穌基督復活(the resurrection of Jesus)。
在西方教會傳統裡，春分之後第一次滿月之後的第一個星期日即為復活節。東方教會則規定，如果滿月恰逢星期日，則復活節再推遲一周。因此，節期大致在3月22日至4月25日之間。
在這一天，人們不僅要滾彩蛋，還要吃巧克力兔。復活節為什麼要吃巧克力兔呢?這要從復活兔說起了。
As far as holidays go, Easter is second only to Halloween in American candy sales—that’s a lot of chocolate bunnies.
就節假日而言，復活節的糖果銷量在美國僅次於萬聖節：其中有很多是巧克力兔。
Easter—the most spiritually significant holiday of the Christian calendar—has always been heavily associated with symbolic foods, from lambs to egg-rich celebratory breads. Rabbits, however, are not mentioned in the scriptures that recount Jesus』 crucifixion and resurrection. And chocolate, a New World food, was not even accessible to the masses until the mid-1800s. So how did chocolate bunnies come to dominate the Easter basket scene? It’s a thoroughly modern mash-up of commerce, confectionery, and immigration.
復活節在基督教曆法中是最具有精神象徵意義的節日，它一直與象徵性的食物緊密聯繫，從羊羔肉到放很多雞蛋的復活節麵包。然而，在聖經中描述耶穌受難到復活的文字裡並沒有提到兔子。巧克力作為一種新世界的食物，直到19世紀中葉才廣泛供應給民眾。那麼巧克力兔是如何佔據復活節食籃的呢?這是現代商業、糖果和移民混合作用的結果。
The observance of Easter includes some elements adapted from pagan traditions celebrating cycles of new life in the springtime, and one of those is the rabbit, an animal known for its crazy-high fertility.
復活節的慶祝活動汲取了異教徒慶祝春天開始新生命輪迴的一些傳統元素，其中之一就是兔子，一種以高繁殖能力著稱的動物。
pagan['pegən]: adj. 異教的;異教徒的
Ostara, the Germanic pre-Christian fertility goddess, apparently kept a hare as a sidekick. The word for 「Easter」 (Ostern, in German) is derived from her name, and her namesake festival was held around April. Germans came to embrace the fictional character Oschter Haws (or osterhause), a rabbit who delivered eggs to children at Easter.
奧斯塔拉(Ostara)作為前基督教時代日耳曼民族的生育女神，養了一隻野兔作為夥伴。復活節這個名詞就是來源於她的名字(在德語裡是Ostern)，她的同名節日大概在四月份舉行。後來德國人開始接納虛構的角色「復活兔」，這是一隻在復活節給孩子們送雞蛋的兔子。
sidekick['saɪdkɪk]: n. 夥伴，老朋友