ChristStory Bestiary

RABBIT or HARE

The Moon

The Easter Bunny or Hare is a symbol of Easter for two reasons: the European spring goddess Eostre (from whom we get the name Easter) had the head of a hare, and the date of Easter is determined by the moon whose symbolism is strongly tied to that of the hare. In fact, the hare is the symbol for the moon. Ever since the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., Easter has been celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after March 21st. Because of these early associations, hare hunting was once a common Easter activity in England and even today the Easter Bunny delivers eggs to children on Easter morning.

In many parts of the world Easter heralds spring as well as the resurrection of Christ. The nocturnal rabbit, signifying the moon who dies every morning and is resurrected every evening, also represents the rebirth of nature in spring. Both the moon and the rabbit were believed to die in order to be reborn. Therefore the hare is a symbol of immortality. In Egypt, Osiris, god of the dead, was sacrificed to the Nile each year in the form of a hare to guarantee the annual flooding Egyptian agriculture depended upon. Although the hare is not a symbol for Christ, some analogy might be made to Christ who was sacrificed in the form of a man for the feeding of God's people.

The hare is an emblem of many lunar goddesses such as Hecate, Freyja, and Holda. In legend, the shadows of the moon's surface are believed to be rabbits. Hares are thought to be the moon's lovers or brothers. Chinese superstition claims that the hare is impregnated through gazing at the moon and, if a pregnant woman is touched by moonlight, her unborn child will grow a harelip.

Although rabbits and hares have a slightly different physiology, they share the same symbolism. Rabbits are much more common than hares in the New World than in the Old and vice versa. At the time of Christ, there were no rabbits in Israel but the Child Jesus most likely saw many hares as He was growing up. Nevertheless, there is a legend about a young rabbit who, for three days, waited anxiously for his friend, Jesus, to return to the Garden of Gethsemane, little knowing what had become of Him. Early on Easter morning, Jesus returned to His favorite garden and was welcomed by His animal friend. That evening, when Jesus' disciples came into the garden to pray, they discovered a path of beautiful larkspurs, each blossom bearing the image of a rabbit in its center as a remembrance of the patience and hope of this faithful little creature.

To Buddhists the hare is a symbol of self-sacrifice. Legend says this creature threw itself into a fire in order to feed Buddha when he was starving. As a reward, it was given a new home in the moon.

Because of its fertility (one doe can produce 42 young a year), the rabbit or hare is an emblem of fertility, abundance, good fortune, sexuality, lasciviousness, lust, procreation, puberty, renewal, spring, rampant growth, excess, and love gods and goddesses such as Venus, Aphrodite, and Cupid. Pliny the Elder even prescribed its meat as a cure for female sterility. The white hare sometimes found at Mary's feet represents her triumph over lust or the flesh. Because it signifies abundance, the rabbit is sometimes used in western countries as a harvest or fall symbol. It also stands for madness and the month of March.

The rabbit's alertness and speed made it a Christian symbol of vigilance and the need to flee from sin and temptation. Like the lion, the hare was believed to be so vigilant that it slept with its eyes open. Its flesh was contaminated with wakefulness and could cause insomnia in its eater. Its speed was a reminder of the swift passage of life.

Tertullian compared the persecuted church to hunted hares, writing, "On us, as if we were hares, is the hunt focused." Unlike other animals, the rabbit has no strength or weapons with which to defend itself from attack. He, therefore, represents Christian trust and dependence on Christ's provision, protection, and mercy both in this life and in the next. The apostle Paul boasted of his infirmities, for in them the power of Christ was made perfect and plain (2 Cor 12:9-10). The saints in heaven are sometimes pictured as hares munching on grapes. The rabbit's burrow is a symbol of Christ's tomb.

The rabbit's trembling makes it a symbol of cowardice and timidity. However, Judeo-Christian writings recommend a holy trembling before the Lord (1 Chr 16:30; Ps 96:9; 99:1; 114:7; Is 19:1; 66:2; Jer 5:22; 33:9] The writer of Philippians warns Christians to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12). In Medieval times, cowardice was personified with drawings of an armed man running from a hare. On the other hand, in Africa and the Americas, the hare was believed to be a trickster using its superior intellect as its defense. Some tribes considered him a hero and even the earth's creator. Aztecs believed 400 rabbits guarded their fields.

To the Israelites, the hare was an unclean or forbidden food (Lev 11:6; Deu 14:7). But westerners found its form beautiful. In fact, it was believed that if someone ate rabbit for nine days in a row they would become beautiful to look upon. The Trinity and the swift passage of the ages is represented by a group of three hares running in a circle with their ears creating the shape of a triangle.

All scripture quotes are from the NKJV Bible.