Who brings the Easter eggs where you live? I’ve grown up with the trusty Easter bunny, but when I came to France, I found to my surprise that the bunny is only a recent “import” and that traditionally, the Easter eggs are brought by someone else.
Seeing chocolate chicken in stores along with eggs and bunnies, you might be tempted to guess the French have kept it realistic and told their kids the Easter hen brings the eggs. But that’s not what it is at all!

In France, the Easter eggs are brought by the church bells on their return from Rome.

You see, after Holy Thursday, French church bells go silent until Easter Sunday, to mark the mourning for Jesus Christ, a Catholic tradition that goes back several centuries. Children are told the bells go to Rome, to get blessed by the Pope, and upon their return, they bring the eggs and hide them for the children to find.

Hence the chocolate bells you will find in French (and also Italian) stores alongside eggs, hens, and Easter bunnies.