Sunday 12 April 2009

So Who Delivers Your Easter Eggs?

In Britain, the Easter Bunny delivers chocolate Easter eggs to children on Easter Sunday.

In Australia, introduced non-native rabbits have been an ecological and agricultural disaster, and about 20-30 years ago, Easter Bilbies started appearing as an alternative for those who felt that bunnies were inappropriate under the circumstances.

Bilbies are an endangered Australian native marsupial, with a superficial resemblance to rabbits. They have long ears, long noses and longish tails, propel themselves forward on powerful hind legs and dig burrows with their front paws. Many Australians now happily buy chocolate Bilbies and tell their children that the Easter eggs were delivered by the Easter Bilby. Some chocolate manufacturers donate a proportion of the profit from Easter sales to Bilby conservation projects. I reckon it's a great idea.


In France, bells deliver the Easter eggs. The church bells are silent from the day before Good Friday, then on Easter Sunday they ring out again. They've been to Rome and arrived back bringing Easter eggs!

Susan

6 comments:

Schnitzel and the Trout said...

I have truly enjoyed reading this tradition. Thank you for sharing.

Barbara said...

Hi Simon & Susan,
I enjoyed learning about the Bilbys too !
Happy Easter to your both & to your families.

TryingHard said...

Oh that is so cute thanks for the story. I wish I could buy Bilbies in the US.

Susan said...

The chocolate bilbies survived the trip in my hand luggage. A nice little after dinner treat yesterday.

Autolycus said...

And there's me thinking it was the Easter Bunyip...

Susan said...

No, no, I think the Bunyips are just cashing in on the Bilbies success.

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