WILD HARES in Welsh, is translated as ysgyfarnog gwyllt, or ceinachod gwyllt. Also known as 'wyn bach Melangell' - or 'Melangell's little lambs', after the legend of Melangell - Protector of the Hare.
The Hare is considered sacred amongst many ancient traditions, representing fertility and rebirth, associated with the moon, and the festivals of Spring. From the earliest times, people have seen the image of a hare when they look at the full moon. Buddhists have a saying about the "shadow of the hare in the moon", they see the hare as a resurrection symbol.
The Hare was sacred to the moon goddess Andraste, the Celtic goddess Cerridwen and the White Goddess - the Earth Mother. Considered to be a royal animal, the warrior queen Boudicca released a Hare as a good omen before each battle with the Romans, and it was said to have screamed like a woman from beneath her cloak.
Eostre (or Ostara) was an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the Dawning East, and of Springtime (from whom we derive the name for Easter), and she was believed to have taken the form of a rabbit, or white hare, which is her totem creature.
One myth says that the Hare was once a bird but was changed by Ostara. The Hare was allowed to keep it's swiftness so it could still escape those who hunted him. Once a year the Hare is allowed to lay eggs in rememberance of it's earlier form - and so today the Easter bunny still brings eggs to the ancient festival.
Reknowned for their astounding fertility - some sources estimate that one doe can bear 42 young in one year, the Hare is hunted by nearly every predator including man, yet continues to survive and prosper.
In earliest times killing and eating the Hare was taboo: in Kerry it is said that eating a Hare is like eating your grandmother. This restriction was lifted at Beltane (Celts).
As they often hide in cornfields till the last reaping, the last sheaf is often called "the hare" and its cutting called "killing the hare".
Hare also figures prominently in many Native American cultures. In the Plains and Great Lakes regions of the United States, Hare fills the role of Trickster.
The Legend of Melangell - Protector of the Hare
In a remote valley in mid-Wales, lies the village of Pennant Melangell.
According to legend, in 607 CE an Irish Princess was, against her will, arranged in marriage to a local chieftain. She was devoted to God, and so fled across the sea to find sanctuary in the Welsh mountains, where she lived humbly, sleeping on a bare rock in the woods. One day, the local prince, Brochfael Ysgythrog (the Tusked) was out hunting with his hounds, when they scented a hare which they pursued into a dense thicket. There to the Prince's surprise, in a sunlit clearing, was the beautiful maiden Melangell, quietly praying as she faced the baying hounds.... The hare had taken refuge amongst her skirts. The howling dogs were crouched, ears flattened, tails between their legs, and the Prince found his horn stuck to his lips, unable to move. Brochfael fell humbly to his knees, impressed by her courage, and recognizing her divine presence. He granted her the valley as a perpetual refuge and place of sanctuary for all people and animals. Hares are still called 'wyn bach Melangell' - or 'Melangell's little lambs', and the church of Pennant Melangell
contains St. Melangell's shrine, which is visited by pilgrims today.
(See also Melangell Giclee Print) |
