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Author
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Comment
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/7/04 5:42 am)
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Hares in Celtic tradition
Somebody has just asked me if I know of any Celtic stories concerning hares. I can't think of any off the top of my head, although I do associate hares with fertility and new life. Also, I believe the Celtic warrior Boudica released a hare from her skirts in the way of an omen I think. Anyway it's an interesting topic so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any more knowledge on the subject.
All the best
Alison
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(12/7/04 6:40 am)
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Re: Hares in Celtic tradition
I don't know... generally I associate hares and the more modern Celtic countries with ill luck. WB Yeats, in his IRISH FOLK AND FAIRY TALES tells the story of a young man named M'Kenna, led astray during a hunt by a fey hare and never seen again. In this case, the hare was more a symbol of the lad's hubris and blasphemy (he was hunting on a Sunday, in opposition to his father's wishes). Many British folklore references will describe the hare as an omen of bad luck (much as we think of a black cat today), and there are several stories of witches transfiguring into hares.
There are probably other references from farther back into what we usually consider the Celtic world (ancient Britain, etc), but these were on the top of my head.
Edited by: aka Greensleeves at: 12/7/04 6:43 am
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MadFae
Registered User
(12/7/04 2:47 pm)
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Re: Hares in Celtic tradition
Here's a nice link on the topic.
www.geocities.com/annafra.../hare.html
Good luck.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(12/7/04 4:23 pm)
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Re: Hares in Celtic tradition
Hares often symbolize sexual promiscuity in medieval art & stories, but my knowledge is more Medieval-English based than Celtic-based. Still, a bestiary might be an interesting source of info.
The
Book of Beasts is entertaining, illustrated, and readable, so
even if it doesn't help much with the question, browsing it won't
be painful.
Good luck!
Erica
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DonnaQ
Unregistered User
(12/8/04 3:57 am)
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An interesting aside...
In McKillip's "Something Rich and Strange" - one of the books in Brian Froud's - Faerielands - series, Froud has a brief but thoroughly enchanting intro regarding hare lore. (And the accompanying illustrations are wonderful!)
There's a post somewhere in the archives where Midori spoke about how the hare was chosen as a key image that ran through the series, so perhaps she can add more?
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Terri Windling
Registered User
(12/8/04 8:00 am)
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Re: An interesting aside...
Um, er, I ghost-wrote that Intro for Brian, so thanks, Donna!
The symbol of the Dartmoor village where Brian and I both live is a circle of three hares joined at the ears. It's an old alchemical symbol for tin, and Dartmoor was a center of tin mining in centuries past. This village was a "stannary" town, where the tin was weighed and stamped.
Rabbits and hares are lunar figures, associated with the Great Goddess (or witches), for whom they run messages. They are particularly associated with Eastre, an Anglo Saxon goddess of the spring who often took the form of a rabbit or hare – and who lingers in our culture today in the form of the Easter Bunny.
Rabbits and hares are “trickster” figures in legends around the world, delighting in pranks and mischief. Lapin in Cajun myth fills this role, and Br'er Rabbit in southern Black American lore.
I can recommend a good book on rabbit/hare lore called Rabbits Everywhere by Alicia Ezpeleta. Worth tracking down.
I've been strangely focused on rabbits myself lately, and they keep turning up in my paintings.
There are some rabbit-children in the painting here:
www.endicott-studio.com/links.html
...and a rabbit maiden in the last painting on this page:
www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galterri.html
I don't know what it says about the state of my psyche that I keep turning out pictures of girls with bunny ears....
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 12/8/04 8:03 am
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/8/04 9:20 am)
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Re: Hares in Celtic tradition
Thanks to everyone for excellent links. The Anna Franklin article was very interesting and I'm really intrigued by the three hares as an alchemist symbol. Do you have any more info on that Terri? The whole subject of alchemy is fascinating. I've recently been reading about John Dee the Elizabethan thinker and philosopher and his exploits into the world of alchemy which is just brilliant stuff.
On the theme of hares I do love the image of the white ghost hare. That's set me off now...!
Thanks again
Alison
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(12/8/04 10:07 am)
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Re: Hares in Celtic tradition
I second Terri's recommendation for Rabbits Everywhere by Alicia Ezpeleta. I was signing on to recommend it and saw that Terri beat me to it. I have had the book for years and love it. Rabbits have always been my animal of choice and I collected them in many forms--not real ones--as a child. This book covers many different aspects of rabbits in history, folklore, etc.
Heidi
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DonnaQ
Unregistered User
(12/9/04 4:18 am)
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Hare Imagery
Glad to see I'm not the only one haunted by hare imagery. The intro
and illustrations that I mentioned above, (thanks for the scoop,
Terri), inspired me to sculpt and cast a hare triskele to hang in
my home. Alison, if you'd like to see one girl's version of it,
visit my homepage at hometown.aol.com/writeonq
You can find the images down at the bottom of the page and there's a bigger (clearer) photo under the misc. and sundry section (click on the link).
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/9/04 3:08 pm)
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Re: Hare Imagery
I love the hare triskel Donna! I see the ears are joined so it's an alchemist symbol. Very intriguing. Very enigmatic! I wish I knew more about the ideas now. I'm fascinated.
Alison
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/11/04 4:31 am)
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The Three Hares Project
I've just received this link by e-mail about The Three Hares Project. I think I'm even more intrigued now....
www.chrischapmanphotography.com/hares/index.html
Edited by: AlisonPegg at: 12/17/04 1:29 pm
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Black Sheep
Unregistered User
(12/16/04 12:45 pm)
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More...
If you want specifically Celtic stories then I believe that Gwion/Taliesin shapechanged as a hare when he was being chased. I'm not sure though, it may be modern folklore.
Julius Caesar is the historical source for the idea that Britons believed that hares are sacred and he also claimed that Boudicca took omens from the running of a hare before battle.
The Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre is only historically mentioned by Bede who didn't link Her with any animal. Her hare association is a modern addition to the folklore.
The three hares in English churches are usually seen as a sign of the Christian Trinity (because of the triangle association) and eternity (because of the circular design). There was a programme about them recently on BBC Radio 4 when I believe they also mentioned similar three deer patterns but I'm sorry to say that I wasn't really paying attention at the time.
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Terri Windling
Registered User
(12/17/04 12:53 am)
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Re: More...
Oh good heavens, what a small world. Chris Chapman lives nearby, and I didn't even know about this project. I knew that someone gave a talk about the 3-hares symbols at a village church near here about a month ago -- it may have been Chris -- but I was too ill to go that night, to my regret. Didn't know he had a whole project going. Perhaps we can do something on this for the Endicott Mythic Arts Journal. Thanks so much for alerting me to this, Alison!
Chris is a fantastic photographer, by the way. He's spent years documenting the old farming way of life around here, as well as the beautiful Devon landscape.
Edited by: Terri Windling at: 12/17/04 12:56 am
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/17/04 4:04 am)
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Re: More...
Yes, I think it's fascinating. I can see the idea of the trinity and eternity in the triskel symbol, but what is the significance of hares in this, I wonder. I mean, why hares? Is it just that the Christian church has adopted a much earlier and very ancient symbol. It must be lovely to live in that area, Terri.
All the best
Alison
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(12/17/04 7:37 am)
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And more...
I can correct my previous post now. The Gwion/Taliesin story is from the medieval Cymric (Welsh) "Hanes Taliesin" so it ain't "Celtic" but it is intriguing... it reminds me of so many other folk stories and songs.
I'm not a Christian but as I understand it they interpret the three hares something like this:
In the visual language of medieval English Christian symbolism hares are supposedly "wicked/lascivious/sinful" creatures (like human beings) but even they (and we) can be "saved" if they use their longears to listen to the "Word of God" (hence the ears in the Trinity triangle) while they are within the circle of eternity (which is a reminder that the Christian God is supposedly everywhere... Big GodBrother is watching you...).
Does that make sense? My explanation that is... not the religious stuff...
The BBC Radio programme "Chasing Hares" might still be on listen again at this site (if you have realplayer):
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/hares.shtml
I might have been wrong about the deer? Maybe it was goats? Like I said, I was only listening with half an ear.
Thanks for the lovely piccie page link Alison.
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AlisonPegg
Registered User
(12/17/04 1:10 pm)
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Re: And more...
Thank you so much for that, Black Sheep. I understand it now! It really appeals to me too. Brilliant stuff.
Alison
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Terri Windling
Registered User
(12/18/04 3:19 am)
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Re: And more...
According to Chris' Three Hares Project web site, the notion that the 3 hares are associated with Dartmoor tinners has been discredited. That's news to me. I'll have to find out more....
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darklingthrush
Registered User
(12/28/04 11:42 am)
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short fiction about rabbits
I read this story a few months ago about rabbits on Fantastic Metropolis.
This is a much more unlucky and poignant story about them. But that
is too easy a summation for such a sad beautiful story. Instead
of me explaining here's the url: www.fantasticmetropolis.com/i/rabbit/
A bit of a late add in case anyone has already read this perhaps or for some clearing of confusion: the story is The Rabbit Test by Jeffrey Ford.
Edited by: darklingthrush at: 12/28/04 11:46 am
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Amal
Unregistered User
(12/31/04 7:45 pm)
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On Boudicca
Black Sheep: I think only Tacitus and Cassius Dio, not Julius Caesar, wrote about Boudicca, since the Boudiccan revolt happened in 60-61 AD, well after Caesar's time. I'm pretty sure it's Dio who describes her releasing a hare from her cloak before going into battle. Dio also has Boudicca invoking the goddess Andraste in his account, so perhaps the hare was related to her.
On hares in folk tradition, though, there's a story called "Enchanted Butter" in Yeats' collection of Irish Folktales, in which a man's cows give bad milk because his neighbour has transformed herself into a hare and is suckling from the cows' udders at night. The same story is also taken up by Carlos Gebler in a book he wrote called Caught on a Train, and I think he cites Yeats as his source.
Also, I think THE coolest image of hares I've seen yet is in a book of fantastic and completely out-there photographs called Hip-Hop Hares. There's only one photo of hares, but they're boxing! It's great!
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(1/2/05 1:54 pm)
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Ta Amal
Thank you for the correction Amal. I very much appreciate it. The dates for Caesar are clearly wrong which I vaguely realised as I was posting but I stupidly trusted my, usually reliable, secondary source over my own memory and then failed to check the primary source.
How about Dio Cassius "Roman History", 62, 6-7 as the source? Dunno about Tacitus... anyone? And I wonder if Caesar mentioned that hares were sacred in another context somewhere in his writings. Perhaps in his "Gallic Wars"?
Cassius mentions Boudicca, a hare used for divination by being released before a battle, and an Iceni Goddess whom he calls Andraste but I don't recall him linking the hare with the Goddess? I don't have the Latin text here.
It is true that some religions use sacred animals for divination but it is equally true that in other religions sacred animals are taboo so one would need some evidence before speculating. Cassius also claims that Andraste was worshipped in a sacred grove which doesn't seem to be a very likely place for hares but then religious practices are often contrary. Cassius mentions several war atrocities and claims that human sacrifices were dedicated to Andraste before being mutilated and executed in Her sacred grove.
Some contemporary English Pagans certainly worship Andraste and associate the hare with Her as a sort of totem animal.
The human/hare shapestrong stories were common folk tales in Britain and are still popular as retellings.
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Elizabeth
Registered User
(1/3/05 4:43 pm)
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Re: On Boudicca
It is, indeed, Dio who talks about the Boudicca/hare connection. I was reading the text for an article I wrote on rabbit lore recently.
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