Hare n – a fast-running animal that resembles a rabbit but is larger, has longer ears and legs and does not burrow. Genus: lepus
Rabbit n – a small burrowing mammal with long ears, soft fur, and short tail. Family: lepordae
Hare symbolism:
represents the quality of good natured-ness; symbol of humility, love of learning, resourcefulness, solitariness, the track-finder, vigilance; negative symbolism – the falsifier, flightiness, madness, "mad as a March hare", mischievousness, one lacking in fixed principles, trickster, vagabondage, swift-of-foot; as a nibbler, wanton destroyer; "a hare crossing one’s path is unlucky because witches transform themselves into hares" (Jobes pg 725)
Africa – symbol of bad luck; hunters will return home if a hare crosses their path; trickster hero who gets the better of the lion by tricking the lion to eat a hot stone; positive symbolism – embodiment of experienced wisdom and shrewd benevolence; Bushman legendary messenger of the moon, who falsifies
American Indian – Great Spirit known as Glooscap, Manabhozho, Manbush, Messou (Potawatomi), Michabo, the Great Hare, is considered an animal-demiurge by Algonquin Indians
Chinese and Japanese legend – "supernatural creature of auspicious omen that inhabits the moon, where it pounds with mortar and pestle, the elixir of life" (Jobes, page 725)
Christian – symbol of Easter; symbolized fecundity and lust; a white hare is sometimes placed at the foot of the Virgin Mary to indicate her triumph over lust
Egyptian – an attribute of Osiris, symbolic of open eyes; "in the Egyptian series of hieroglyphs, the hare is the determinative sign defining the concepts of being, and symbolic in consequence of elemental existence" (Cirlot, PG 139)
Folklore – identified with the god of the underworld
Greek – associated with Eross; also associated with Hecate, the lunar goddess
Germanic – associated with the goddess Harek
Hebrew – symbol of contemplation, intuition, door, light, open window, the unclean
Heraldry – one who enjoys a peaceful and retired life
Japan – called うさぎ (usagi) symbol of the sunrise and gratitude
Mythological – hare is sacred to the moon
Rabbit symbolism:
mildness, fecundity, fleet- footedness, gregariousness, long eared listener; represent watchfulness
North American – legendary holy animal "which burrowed away the soil and released the primeval race from the underworld" (Jobes, pg 1316); giver of luck in the chase
Huron – called Ioskeha, called Totochtin by Nahuatl Indians (Aztec), god of drunkenness and idleness
Rabbit Hunt – "Zuni fertility ceremonial. Children conceived on the night of the hunt supposedly would be exceptionally vigorous" (Jobes, pg 1316)
(See Bibliography Category for references)