Growing up in Asia in a Vietnamese family, I always believed there was a rabbit on the moon assisting the Goddess Hang Nga who grinds medicinal herbs with her mortar and pestle into an elixir of immortality. However, only recently did I discover that this trio of associations (rabbits, the moon and divine feminine) is an ancient archetype, stretching across a diverse array of cultures, landscapes and centuries by way of Silk Road.

Close up of the carving of the fur on the rabbit…

The earliest known examples of the archetype can be found in Buddhist cave temples in China (581-618 CE), where the rabbit was referred to as the Jade Rabbit and the Goddess Chang E. From China the archetype spread by travelers, traders, and soldiers all along the Silk Road, through the Middle East, through Europe, and by the 12th century it had reached the British Isles. This is documented through art, literature, religious symbols and cultural motifs from a diverse range of cultures that the Silk Road passes through.

The Egyptians included the rabbit, the moon and the goddess in their Book of the Dead, in their hieroglyphs, and in their artwork. The rabbit was associated with the cycles of the moon, which was associated with the masculine God Osiris when waxing, and associated with the feminine goddess Unut when waning. In Greco-Roman mythology, rabbits were associated with the Artemis, goddess of wild places and the hunt, and newborn rabbits were not to be killed but left to her protection. For the Celtic people, the rabbit was sacred to the moon goddess Andraste, the Celtic goddess Cerridwen and the Earth Mother. In Anglo-Saxon myth, Eostre, the goddess of the moon, fertility, and spring was often depicted with a rabbit’s head or ears, and with a white rabbit standing in attendance.

Rabbits are associated with the feminine and rebirth because of their fertility, and their ability to propagate quickly. Rabbits physically live best in liminal spaces – borders between one place and another – such as woodland edges and hedgerows and they do most of their grazing at dawn and dusk – thresholds between light and dark. Perhaps this is why in many cultures they are believed to be able to communicate between worlds, sometimes carrying messages between the living and the dead, and respected as a source of divination. A rabbit’s ability to molt, sometimes changing fur colors several times a year, reinforces Rabbit’s connection with transformation and new beginnings.

Rabbits are a common creature in my neighborhood, besides my backyard they can be seen in neighboring Great Meadows and, as expected, there is rabbit folklore native to this Northeastern American landscape as well. There is an Eastern Woodland Native American folktale in which a group of hunters wonder into the forest and come upon the biggest rabbit they have ever seen in a clearing. The rabbit is thumping its foot, “ba-pum, pa-pum, pa-pum”. Suddenly, many rabbits emerge, thumping their feet, and joining in a dance together. Astonished at this unexpected sight, the hunters return to their village and consult the wise Clan Mother, who asks them to show her the rabbit dance. She listens and watches, and finally says: “the Rabbit People know that we rely on them for food and clothing. The Rabbit Chief has given us this special dance to honor its people for all that they give to humans. If we play their song and do their dance, they will know we are grateful, and we honor the Rabbit People.” From there a social dance was given to the Iroquois people.

In many Algonquin-speaking communities there is a “trickster rabbit”, known as the Great Hare, Or “Nanabozho”. He appears in folktales as a hero, benefactor and teacher, clown, thief, or predator. This character is very similar to the African American folktale character Br’er Rabbit, a trickster, who is able to fool those in power. Br’er Rabbit stories are thought to have originated in Africa and were brought to the New World and orally transmitted by enslaved peoples.

Handmade linocut print of an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit in a meadow of Massachusetts wildflowers including Common Yarrow, Black-Eyed Susans and Clover. Inspired by a hike through Great Meadows, Arlington, MA.

Although these folktales omit the moon, the rabbit’s association with the moon is also present in some indigenous cultures of the Americas. In Mayan art, glyphs, hieroglyphics, and inscriptions, a rabbit frequently is depicted with a moon goddess. According to an Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl, then living on Earth as a human, started on a journey and, after walking for a long time, became hungry and tired. With no food or water around, he thought he would die. Then a rabbit grazing nearby offered herself as food to save his life. Quetzalcoatl, moved by the rabbit's noble offering, elevated her to the Moon, then lowered her back to Earth and told her, "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will remember you; there is your image in light, for all people and for all times."

Interestingly, this Aztec folktale is very similar to a Vietnamese folktale about a fox, hare and monkey who attempt to offer the Buddha some food (which is very similar to the original Chinese folktale about the Jade Rabbit and the Goddess Change E). The monkey nimbly swings across trees and brings mangoes and bananas, while the fox heads to the river and comes back with dozens of fish. The rabbit is embarrassed that he only eats grass and has nothing to offer, so instead tells his two friends to make a fire and offers himself as the meal. However, before he can proceed, Buddha intervenes and generously thanks the monkey and fox for their offerings. He then carries the rabbit to the moon so everyone will remember his generosity that is beyond compare. Observing so many similarities between the Aztec and Vietnamese folktales, makes me wonder whether there may have been another road or oceanic route that brought this story over the Pacific Ocean to the Americas, or vice versa?

Carl Jung, the world renowned psychoanalyst, had an altogether different explanation. He talks about the existence of strikingly similar folktale archetypes found in cultures and landscapes from vastly different places as evidence of what he calls the “Collective Consciousness”. Like the archetype of the rabbit, moon and feminine divine that we find in so many cultures described above, Jung had observed many other archetypal patterns recurring in myths, religions, and cultural beliefs from societies that were unlikely to have been in contact with each other. He explained that this was evidence that there is a collection of knowledge that we inherit from our ancestors that is shaped and transformed by all past human experiences. It mostly remains unconscious until we notice patterns and archetypes coming through cultural motifs, and archetypes in mythologies, but whether unconscious or conscious to us, the Collective Consciousness shapes our folklore and gives meaning to the world.

I love the way the rabbit-moon-goddess motif runs parallel to the history of block printing, which also originated in Asia, and traveled on the Silk Road to Europe. . .But also I love the surprising similarity in folklore archetypes in unexpected places where there is no clear road in between, and all we have is a great mystery to contend with.

References:

Bruchac, Joseph (1991). Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing.

Khôi Phạm. (September 15, 2009). “A Brief Primer of Asia’s Mid-Autumn Mythology in Three Folktales” (https://saigoneer.com/saigon-culture/17395-a-brief-primer-of-asia-s-mid-autumn-mythology-in-3-folk-tales).

Windling, Terri. (April 10, 2020). “Myth and Moor: The Folklore of Rabbits and Hares”. (www.terriwindling.com).

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