Acquaintance with a hare for most of us occurs in early childhood. After all, this cute animal is a favorite character in children's fairy tales. As a rule, the hare is called "oblique" or "coward". In fairness, it must be said that neither one nor the other is true. Let's try to figure out what role at one time these rodents were assigned to different peoples of the world.
Deity or evil?
Among the ancient Greek, Egyptian, Germanic, African and Indian tribes, the hare was considered a female and lunar sign. The "lunar" hare became because ancient people believed that hares run out to play in the light of the moon. Well, high fertility made him a symbol of reproduction. Often they endowed the hare with magical powers. The animal's left hind paw was considered a talisman of good luck, rheumatism and gout were treated with it, and alchemists used the paw to mix miraculous elixirs.
The ancient Egyptians assigned the hare an honorable "divine" role. For example, the goddess Unut, who patronized the 15th of Upper Egypt (nom - the administrative circle), was depicted as a hare. At one time in China, the female principle "yin" was personified by the moon hare, and a chance meeting with a hare was regarded as a happy sign. The ancient Greeks defined the oblique to serve Aphrodite, and Hermes used a swift-footed rodent instead of a hound. Hares did not offend the Indians, among whom he became a real cult hero. And among the Shiites (one of the directions of Islam), the hare is considered a sacred animal, because after death Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, reincarnated into it.
African long-eared animals are much less fortunate. Tribes of South Africa, Hottentots and Bushmen killed hares at every opportunity. According to African legend, the hare did not want people to be immortal, and besides, he hid game from them. Therefore, the demiurge Tsue himself gave the Africans a weapon to destroy the harmful animal. In Christianity and Judaism, the hare acts as a symbol of lust, and was treated here as an unclean animal.
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In the service of the devil
Our ancestors believed that a meeting with a hare promises trouble. "You stump and deck, we have a way and a road!" - so they said to a hare who suddenly ran across the road. There were beliefs that if a hare meets a newlywed, it is not good, if a pregnant woman sees a hare, the child will be born with a hare lip, it is forbidden for pregnant women to eat a hare - the child will be oblique. Sailors, seeing a hare near the ship, on this day preferred not to go to sea.
It is known that A. S. Pushkin once returned home when a hare ran across the road to the crew. The poet was on his way to Senate Square, but if he got there, at best he would be exiled to Siberia. This happened on December 14, 1825, on the day of the Decembrist uprising.
People also believed that hares all serve the devil, and the devil most often loves to pretend to be a hare, "averts his eyes." The goblin themselves play cards for hares with each other, and after such a tournament you can see an amazing sight: a huge flock of hares runs into another forest to serve the new owner. But the water one does not tolerate these rodents, so remembering about hares while swimming is not worth it.
In our enlightened age, two interesting superstitions about hares are still alive. First: the hare is so fearful that it sleeps with open eyes in order to have time to escape in case of danger, and second: the hare can change its sex.
Giant hares
It is believed that the hare is a harmless fluffy animal. But this is not at all the case. Hares are rather aggressive animals that jealously defend their territory. And even a scythe chased by predators will not run into someone else's area. On the hind legs of the animal there are strong sharp claws with which they can inflict a mortal wound on the enemy during the fight. And the hare is not a vegetarian at all: on occasion, it will gladly eat lingering small animals, and can even attack a bird. It happens, and does not disdain carrion.
The normal lifespan of a hare in the wild is a year or two, with an average weight of 4.5-5 kg. However, there are lucky old-timers who weigh significantly more.
The photo shows a hare caught in the Astrakhan region. Weight -12 kg 300g. According to the hunter, he came running from the steppes of Kazakhstan with the onset of severe frosts.
In prehistoric times, giant hares were not surprising. For example, the Menorca hare (nuralagus), which lived on Menorca Island in the Mediterranean, reached a weight of 22 kg.
However, in later literary sources there are references to giant hare, weighing up to 20 kg. Such huge hares in Russia were called "hare princes". It was believed that the "prince" is born once every 100 years. The famous Russian writer-hunter Aksakov once even managed to shoot such an unusual trophy. This happened in the autumn of 1816. Already at dusk, the writer noticed a hare, which, as it seemed to him, was "hanging" a yard away from the ground. The hunter was frightened, but nevertheless shot the strange animal. In comparison with the hardened hare, the killed hare turned out to be twice as large. One of the peasant hunters explained to him that this was the "prince of the hare." In the "Notes of a Hunter of Eastern Siberia" A. Cherkasov (1867, pp. 285-286) there are also references to such "princes".
Modern hunters also sometimes mention the hare prince. For example, here is a story from one of the hunting forums. Once, after a successful hunt, the old forester was jokingly reproached with the fact that he missed many hares. And the grandfather told the following story: once he shot a whole bag of long-eared, it was hard to carry it and he lay down to rest. And he dreamed of a hare a meter tall, which threatened the old man that if he did not stop tyrannizing hares, he would not live to see spring. And this forester, after such a warning to hares, did not shoot until the end of his life and prevented others.
Hares within the city are no longer a rarity. Deforestation and reduction of their habitats led to the fact that these animals are forced to live next to humans - in noisy city parks and forest belts, so, most likely, the next "hare prince" will not appear "in public" soon.