Sanctuary
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 17:06
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Sanctuary wrote: [quote="tjj"]Something to go with Moss' post on hare mythology - this is a fascinating site about hares and rabbits.
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrRabbits.html
Why, I wonder, do we say 'white rabbits' on 1st March (or is it any month). According to the above there are strong associations with the hare/rabbit going back to ancient China - which travelled along the Silk Road into northern Europe.
The best white rabbit was called Harvey June
http://www.shalinimusic.com/2011/06/27/harvey-the-pooka/
...scroll down for the vid clip
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moss
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 18:10
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And of course there was Boudicca's hare, released from the folds of her dress, an act of divination as to which way they should march, when she declared war on the romans, and marched on Colchester and London.
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Howburn Digger
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 18:14
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hedgedruid wrote: anyone spotted any mad march hares yet ? Been out looking but not been lucky yet .
See quite a few over the last week.
Two hares in a field between Lugar and Cumnock (East Ayrshire). They were in the same field as the first spring lambs we'd seen (this was last Saturday). There were daffodils in bloom too. All very nice.
Two hares (in different fields from one another) just outside Newbiggin (South Lanarkshire) yesterday.
One hare on lower field Ewe Hill (Bizzyberry Hill, South Lanarkshire) today.
One sometimes visits my garden and lays in the shelter along the drills of tatties or strawberry plants. It has done so (or at least one has, I don't know if it is the same one) for the last eight years, particularly after the Barley is cut in August/ September. I remember taking my son (now 10) out as a wee three year old to see it, we got right up to within touching distance and it didn't flinch. It wasn't injured and seemed quite relaxed padding around the garden while I'd hang up the washing. They are lovely creatures and surprisingly big...
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Hares (hedgedruid) |
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wideford
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 18:48
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Andraste, Goddess of Victory IIRC
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ryaner
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 20:05
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I disturbed one in the vicinity of this site: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/11593/magheraghanrush_cashel.html I don't know who got the bigger fright, him, or me when he skedaddled out of there at my approach.
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Hares (hedgedruid) |
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Emma A
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 20:22
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tjj wrote: Something to go with Moss' post on hare mythology - this is a fascinating site about hares and rabbits.
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrRabbits.html
Why, I wonder, do we say 'white rabbits' on 1st March (or is it any month). According to the above there are strong associations with the hare/rabbit going back to ancient China - which travelled along the Silk Road into northern Europe.
That's a really interesting article - thanks for posting! It mentions the goddess of Spring Eostre turning into a hare - I know another myth about her. She found an injured bird and the only way she could save its life was to change it into a hare. However the transformation was not quite complete and the hare still laid eggs, hence the Easter bunny bringing us Easter eggs!
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Sanctuary
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Re: Hares
Mar 07, 2012, 21:08
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Emma A wrote: tjj wrote: Something to go with Moss' post on hare mythology - this is a fascinating site about hares and rabbits.
http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrRabbits.html
Why, I wonder, do we say 'white rabbits' on 1st March (or is it any month). According to the above there are strong associations with the hare/rabbit going back to ancient China - which travelled along the Silk Road into northern Europe.
That's a really interesting article - thanks for posting! It mentions the goddess of Spring Eostre turning into a hare - I know another myth about her. She found an injured bird and the only way she could save its life was to change it into a hare. However the transformation was not quite complete and the hare still laid eggs, hence the Easter bunny bringing us Easter eggs!
Thanks Emma. Did you have to mention Easter eggs as I'm on a diet and have chocolate withdrawal symptoms!! :-)
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rockhopper
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Re: Hares
Mar 08, 2012, 01:42
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Not wishing to deviate from the subject of rocks etc, but they're supposed to be nice jugged, but as a non carnivore I would'nt know. There's usually loads of them around here at this time of year, boxing the heads off each other, but only a couple to date. Last year they took over the place, looking in at the dog through the patio window and driving him mental.
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north bucks
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Re: Hares
Mar 16, 2012, 18:05
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Saw a big one at the top of Blowing Stone hill today right by the Ridgeway.
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Howburn Digger
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Re: Hares
Mar 16, 2012, 21:24
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rockhopper wrote: Not wishing to deviate from the subject of rocks etc, but they're supposed to be nice jugged, but as a non carnivore I would'nt know.
I ate hare as a child, but then we ate anything which was brought through the door (rabbit, pheasant, salmon etc. - poor us!). I've only eaten it once as an adult (a few years back). It was served to me at a dinner and I found its casseroled effects rather undesirable.
A year or two ago I was handed in a dead hare in by a neighbour who had been out shooting. They thought they were doing me a kindness. It was awful, a beautiful animal, to big to skin and butcher comfortably and I couldn't bear to deal with it. I quickly passed it on to a colleague at work who greatly enjoyed it.
I love the animal's mystery and its strange habits. I posted earlier about how one (not sure if it is the same one) regularly visits our garden. I am reminded of Robert Burns who once shot a hare wounding it. He cursed himself afterwards and never shot or hunted another. At the latter end of the poet's life, when he was farming at Ellisland near Dumfries he saw a similarly injured hare and wrote this poem.
The Wounded Hare (1789)
Inhuman man! curse on thy barb'rous art,
And blasted be thy murder-aiming eye;
May never pity soothe thee with a sigh,
Nor ever pleasure glad thy cruel heart!
Go live, poor wand'rer of the wood and field!
The bitter little that of life remains:
No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains
To thee a home, or food, or pastime yield.
Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest,
No more of rest, but now thy dying bed!
The sheltering rushes whistling o'er thy head,
The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest.
Perhaps a mother's anguish adds its woe;
The playful pair crowd fondly by thy side;
Ah! helpless nurslings, who will now provide
That life a mother only can bestow!
Oft as by winding Nith I, musing, wait
The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn,
I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,
And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate.
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