Easter/Oester/Osara- the Goddess of Hares or Rabbits

The Goddess finds a bird who is near death and can no longer fly. She pities the bird and brings it back to health. She later turns the bird in to a rabbit and loves the hare. It is said that the rabbit does become her lover as the Goddess is a lover of rabbits. The two get along famously until it is discovered that the hare is having an affair with another woman. Oester/Ostara becomes angry, throws it to the heavens where it becomes part of the Constellation Lepus (The Hare) under the Constellation of Orion (The Hunter).

The Goddess later feels badly for the bird/Hare she once loved and allows it to return to earth once a year to lay colored eggs for children. The Goddess allowed the rabbit to continue to lay eggs like it did when it was a bird.

We have innocence not being able to defend itself as it is helpless.

Becoming a rabbit, the helpless is now a swift runner that can elude its prey.

The rabbit becomes the love object of its master.

After betraying the master, the rabbit is admonished to be hunted.

Easter is a Christian holiday that is borrowed from Pagan tradition!

There's MUCH more to this and I'll be digging moar. Had a plethora of this info on my old laptop which crashed and burned. Much of that info is no longer available on the webs.

http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-ostara.htm