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It is, quite literally, the dying of the year. Plants are dying, trees are shedding their leaves and we're getting ready for the last big fall harvest before the cold of the winter sets it. Some people wouldn't make it to spring, they would freeze or starve to death. It was quite normal to remember those who have passed on during this time, like dead relatives and friends (All Saints Day, All Soul's Day, Day of the Dead). Indeed, Halloween must have a completely different feel in Australia where it's their spring, just has Australia's Easter is more like our Thanksgiving (a fall harvest rather than a spring holiday).
Why would anyone want to celebrate a "holiday" in which was taken from pagan rituals and celebrations? Christmas is also full of pagans rituals. This can be verified in the encyclopedia. As is Easter, what does a bunny have to do with the resurrection of Jesus? Try looking that up as well, it's interesting.
Medieval superstition believed that rabbits had virgin births. (Rabbits can get "knocked up" for the next litter while still pregnant with a first litter.) This made them relate rabbits with Virgin Mary. It's an odd tie, but then so are colored eggs.
Rabbits and eggs are pagan fertility symbals-Easter is named for a Saxon goddess who was known by the names of Oestre or Eastre, and in Germany by the name of Ostara.-http://www.goddessgift.com/pandora's_box/easter-history.html
Actually, folklore used believe that rabbits gave virgin birth. So bunnies became the symbol for Virgin Mary.
It was probably easier to get people to celebrate a religious holiday on a day that they were used to taking off from work and relaxing/partying. Church leaders used old religious symbols, like trees, to stand for Christian ideas.
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