Moonstruck in June

When my Daddy pointed to summer’s full moon he said, “See the bunny?”  

"Where?" I squinted to find it.

"Imagine a clock. Look at the 1 and 2 for the ears. Find the tail at about 7 o’clock," he said.

I learned to tell time in circular before digital clocks.

The moon rabbit appears in fables, folklore and poetry around the world. Sansanka, the moon in Sanskrit translates, "having the marks of a hare."

In a Buddhist fable, a monkey, jackal and rabbit happened upon a beggar who needed food. While the monkey gathered fruits from trees, the jackal caught a lizard and stole a pot of milk-curd. The rabbit only ate grass and had nothing to offer the beggar. 

She flung herself into the fire the man had built. Suddenly, the man revealed himself as the god, Sakra. Touched by the rabbit's sacrifice, he designed her likeness on the moon for everyone to see.

The Han Dynasty poets referred to the "Jade Rabbit" or the "Gold Rabbit." These Chinese characters represented a word for the moon: 玉兔  金兔.

A Taoist fable revealed a hare, the gemmeous, who served the genii. The creature ground an elixir of immortality on the moon. Imperial Chinese robes of the 18th-century revealed the white hare making the elixir in embroidery.

Told in a Native American Cree legend, a rabbit wished to ride the moon. The crane agreed to fly him there.  As the rabbit's weight pulled during the trip, it stretched the bird's legs. They remained elongated from then on. When they reached the moon, the rabbit touched the crane's head leaving a red mark. The rabbit still rides the moon.

                               by Cyra R. Cancel

The Tezcucans of Mexico said the sun and moon started out equal in brightness until a god took a rabbit by its heels and flung it into the moon's face to dim its light.

Look for the bunny in tonight's strawberry moon.