The Dickinson press., 1897-08-07
THE EGG AND THE HARE,
ETa Different Symbols Connected with
tho Easte! Anniversary.

D1iSEtNC symbols connected with
tho Easte- Anniversary.
OF lato years thcro has been a
marked and growing tendency on
the part of Easter artists and con-
f%cctioners to substitute tho rabbit OF
hare for tho old familiar Easter egg
as a symbol Of the joyous Easter an
niversary. In tho we'll remembered
mot long ago" tho egg held abso.
lutte and undisputed sway as tho
universal emblem of the resurrec.
ton. Then tho egg ~"ripencd' and
tho fuzzy little chick added its cum.
ming presence to confcctioners' win.
dow decorations. So far tho connec.
ton between tho symbol and tho
event Vas SO easily understood that
comment or questioning would have
been entirely supertluous, but with
the advent Of tho "bunny" tribe tho
complexity becomes too embarrass.
ing for silence, and ono is anxious
70 have an answer to the question,
Why2 Tho timid, dainty littlo long
cared rabbit is certainly cute and at.
tractive, but what has it to do with
Easter? No one questions it's beauty
OF effectiveness, but wherein lies it's
appropriateness;
In seeking an answer to this rea-
sonablo inquiry ono finds an easy
cleW Ill tho work of Chinese, Japa-
neso and Hindoo artists, who all
agree i'll associating tho haro with
the moon. III the minds of these
authorities the ''manin the moon,"
with whom Il is SO we'll acquaint-
ell, is not man at all, but a haro,
and tits found i'll studying tho my
thology of these countries that tho
hare and the moon arc identical in
their symhotogy, tho Chinese rep
rosenting tho moon as ahure pound
ing rico i'll Il mortar. After ostab.
fishing the connection between tho
hare and the moon the rest is easy,
for Easter is really - festival of tho
moon, it's date being fixed by tho
council Of Nice i'll 351 a.. d. as tho
nrst Sunday after the first full moon
following the vcrnal equinox.
So the moon being clearly related
to Easter, and the haro being related
to tho moon, tho hare is clearly en-
titled to participate in tho Easter
cheer.
OF course this only opens Che door
20 a flood of eager questions whose
answers are only to be found in
dusty, musty tones Of NEUROLOGICAL
lore, and the search is too involved
and tircsomo to be interesting. Just
why tho hare should have been
adopted rs the symbol of the moon
IS not easy to determine s%atisfacto-
rily, as history on this point is
shroudcd i'll tho clouds of antiquity
and complicated by conflicting tes-
timony. Ono account has it that
Buddha onco desired to feed a hun
cry fellow creature and to do this
took the form of a hare. In this
form ho was transferred to the
moon, whero he still remains.
Equally reliable is the account Of
Indra's being at one timo in q fam
ishing condition, when tho hare, be-
ing an extremely sympathetic crea-
turo, was naturally hea1tbrokcn at
such distress. Unable to relieve tho
great mans. hunger in any other
way the hare threw himself into tho
fire and thus saved Indra from star.
walton. Out of gratitude for this
sacrifice Indra translated tho animal
to the moon.
Many more recent bases for link
Ing tho hare to the moon could be
found, as the fact of its carrying it's
young a lunar month, being noe
turnal in its habits. ats young being
born with their eyes open, and the
moon being called the ''open eyed"
and a superstition that the hare
changed its sex annually, the moon's
sex being changed from masculine
during its waxing period, when it
was called the "lord OF Light and
considered as the sign of new life,
and feminine during the waning
period,~NoW York Tribune.