"Probably the hare has been the sacred animal of Ostara; [...] It is a very ancient and widespread belief that a hare leaping across the way of a wanderer is a terrible predicament and contains the admonition to repent, indicating that our forefathers assumed that the hare was in the service of a deity, that of the human being to warn, to follow his will. In many places there are ghostly rabbits, but mostly of three-legged ones, which is especially noteworthy because a three-legged ghost always points to a deity"
"Überreste germanischen Heidentums im Christentum"
K. A. Oberle (1883)
https://archive.org/stream/berrestegermani01obergoog#page/n119/mode/1up
"For the reasons given, it appears that the rabbits have assumed a not insignificant position in a religious relationship, and since they are still called in the present as beings, which lay the colorful Easter eggs early in the morning. so it can be assumed that they provide the service in the Ostara because of their wind-like speed. The hare seems to have been a bird for the time being, the goddess was sacrificed eggs, but because they are animal in nature, only by the hand of the priest. Even today, in some places there is the use of bringing eggs to the clergy at Easter"
[And more that I'm too tied to transcribe...]
#lore #folklore #german
@phoenix