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Which Animal Brings Easter Eggs In Switzerland?

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Easter eggs are hidden around the world, but no matter where you live, your childhood memories of finding Easter eggs will always be fun and filled with excitement. 

The Easter Bunny is known to travel around the world, hiding colorful eggs for children to find and enjoy on Easter Sunday morning. In some areas of the world, however, such as Switzerland, the Easter Bunny doesn’t bring eggs at all, leaving them instead in the hands of another creature entirely! 

If you want to know which animal brings Easter eggs in Switzerland (and how they get here), keep reading below!

First, What Are Easter Eggs?

Easter eggs are treats that are hidden by parents and other members of a family during Easter. The tradition has become popular in many countries around the world, including Switzerland. 

While children look forward to finding their chocolate eggs, parents enjoy their own ritual: hiding them! In fact, it is common for Swiss parents to hide up to 50 chocolate eggs for their children on Easter morning. 

If America and many places in the world have “voted” bunnies for the ambassadors of Easter eggs, Switzerland has another different way to go. 

A yellow billed cuckoo perched in a tree.
A yellow-billed cuckoo perched in a tree. Photo: Joshua J. Cotten

Which Animal Brings Easter Eggs in Switzerland?

So, which animal is responsible for delivering Easter eggs to Swiss children each year? It is Cuckoo… but do you know why he does it?

While the cuckoo isn’t typically a symbol of Easter in most parts of the world, it certainly is in Switzerland. 

This egg-laying bird has become a cultural phenomenon in the Swiss canton of Valais, where residents actually anticipate its arrival each year and monitor the weather to predict when they’ll get to see it. 

But how did it become a symbol of Easter in Switzerland? 

The cuckoo only began bringing eggs to families there at the end of the 19th century when some kids grew tired of waiting for real Easter eggs. In 1884, they placed their own fake eggs high up on trees and called out Cuckoo! Cuckoo! so that it would bring them down. 

Since then, children have continued to hide wooden or ceramic eggs throughout woods as well as roofs and attics as symbols of springtime. 

In addition, it makes more sense that a bird brings eggs, right? I mean— Do bunnies lay eggs though?

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Cuckoo clocks are a big deal in Switzerland. Photo: OwenJCSmith

Is Cuckoo The Symbol of Switzerland?

Now you may think that the Cuckoo is the symbol of Switzerland. But no, it’s not!

It’s true that, in this country, cuckoo clocks are a big deal, and most Swiss people don’t just have one – they have several. But that fact isn’t something significant enough to make this species become a national symbol. 

In addition, cuckoo clocks only have a slim relation to Switzerland in their functions. In terms of production, it actually belongs to the Black Forest of Germany.

Wrapping It Up

Although many people believe that delivering Easter eggs is one of the bunny’s duties, this animal doesn’t seem to have ever made a reputation in Switzerland. The Cuckoo has had that crown for centuries.

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