Who knows why?

[Homeless Nutter]

Apart from being a fertility symbol, does anyone know how rabbits became associated with Christianity in general and Easter in particular?

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Classical thinkers thought rabbits and hares were hermaphroditic as well as parthenogenic.  The idea of rabbits giving virgin birth naturally appealed to Christian artists.

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Boru

Then shouldn't rabbits be associated with the birth of Christ, more than with his death? How come there are virtually no rabbits in traditional Christmas iconography, whereas lambs are often depicted in relation to both occasions?

I'm pretty sure it's just a leftover of pagan fertility rituals, which Easter replaced and adopted. That's probably also why the date is determined by moon-cycles, rather than by solar calendar, like other christian celebrations. Hares are predominantly nocturnal, but in early spring they start chasing each other in broad daylight, which is why they're associated with the season in a lot of European traditions. 

There are many regional customs and symbols connected with Easter, that have nothing to do with Christ, or Christianity. And some are just more marketable, than others, I guess. In Eastern Europe, where I grew up, people spray each other with water on Easter Monday. In particular - young men are encouraged to soak girls they like. One could come up with all sorts of justifications, why water symbolism appeals to christians, but no - it's basically just an old-timey, semi-voluntary wet t-shirt contest, that horny Polish peasants weren't going to give up, resurrection, or no resurrection. Why isn't this custom wide-spread? Possibly because there's more money to be made selling cute chocolate animals, than buckets of water.