The symbol features three
hares or
rabbits chasing each other in a circle. Like the
triskelion,[8] the
triquetra, and their antecedents (e.g., the
triple spiral), the symbol of the three hares has a threefold
rotational symmetry. Each of the ears is shared by two hares, so that only three ears are shown. Although its meaning is apparently not explained in contemporary written sources from any of the medieval cultures where it is found, it is thought to have a range of symbolic or mystical associations with fertility and the
lunar cycle. When used in Christian churches, it is presumed to be a symbol of the
Trinity. Its origins and original significance are uncertain, as are the reasons why it appears in such diverse locations.[1]
Origins in Buddhism and diffusion on the Silk Road
The earliest occurrences appear to be in cave temples in China, dated to the
Sui dynasty (6th to 7th centuries).[9][10] The
iconography spread along the
Silk Road.[11] In other contexts the
metaphor has been given different meaning. For example, Guan Youhui, a retired researcher from the
Dunhuang Academy, who spent 50 years studying the decorative patterns in the
Mogao Caves, believes the three rabbits—"like many images in
Chinese folk art that carry auspicious symbolism—represent peace and tranquility".[9][10]SeeAurel Stein. The hares have appeared in
Lotus motifs.[12]
The three hares appear on 13th century
Mongol metalwork, and on a copper coin, found in
Iran, dated to 1281.[13][14][15]
Another appears on an ancient Islamic-made
reliquary from southern Russia. Another 13th or early 14th century box, later used as a reliquary, was made in
Iran under
Mongol rule, and is preserved in the treasury of the
Cathedral of Trier in Germany. On its base, the casket has Islamic designs, and originally featured two images of the three hares. One was lost through damage.[16]
One theory pertaining to the spread of the motif is that it was transported from China across Asia and as far as the south west of England by merchants travelling the Silk Road and that the motif was transported via designs found on expensive
Oriental ceramics. This view is supported by the early date of the surviving occurrences in China. However, the majority of representations of the three hares in churches occur in England and northern Germany. This supports a contrary view that the three hares occurred independently as English or early German symbols.[1][9][10][17]
Some claim that the Devon name, Tinners' Rabbits, is related to local
tin miners adopting it. The mines generated wealth in the region and funded the building and repair of many local churches, and thus the symbol may have been used as a sign of the miners' patronage.[18] The
architectural ornament of the three hares also occurs in churches that are unrelated to the miners of South West England. Other occurrences in England include floor tiles at
Chester Cathedral,[19] stained glass at
Long Melford, Suffolk[A] and a ceiling in
Scarborough, Yorkshire.[1]
The motif of the three hares is used in a number of medieval or more recent European churches, particularly in France (e.g., in the
Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in
Lyon)[20] and Germany. It occurs with the greatest frequency in the churches of
Devon, United Kingdom, where it appears to be a recollection of earlier
Insular Celtic design such as the
triaxially symmetrictriskele and other
Romano-British designs which are known from early British 'Celtic' (
La Tène) metalwork such as circular enamelled and openwork triskel brooches (
fibulae). The motif appears in
illuminated manuscripts amongst similar devices such as the anthropomorphic "beard pullers" seen in manuscripts such as the
Book of Kells,[21] architectural
wood carving,
stone carving, window
tracery, and
stained glass. In South Western England there are over thirty recorded examples of the three hares appearing on '
roof bosses' (carved wooden knobs) on the ceilings in
medieval churches in
Devon, (particularly
Dartmoor). There is a good example of a roof boss of the three hares at
Widecombe-in-the-Moor,[8] Dartmoor, with another in the town of
Tavistock on the edge of the moor. The
motif occurs with similar central placement in Synagogues.[2] Another occurrence is on the
ossuary that by tradition contained the bones of
St. Lazarus.[22]
Where it occurs in the United Kingdom, the three hares motif usually appears in a prominent place in the church, such as the central rib of the
chancel roof, or on a central rib of the
nave. This suggests that the symbol held significance to the church, and casts doubt on the theory that they may have been a masons' or carpenters' signature marks.[1] There are two possible and perhaps concurrent reasons why the three hares may have found popularity as a symbol within the church. Firstly, it was widely believed that the hare was
hermaphrodite and could reproduce without loss of
virginity.[16] This led to an association with the
Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in
illuminated manuscripts and
Northern European paintings of the Virgin and
Christ Child. The other Christian association may have been with the
Holy Trinity,[16][23][unreliable source?] representing the "One in Three and Three in One" of which the triangle or three interlocking shapes such as rings are common symbols. In many locations the three hares are positioned adjacent to the
Green Man, a symbol commonly believed to be associated with the continuance of
Anglo-Saxon or
Celticpaganism.[24] These juxtapositions may have been created to imply the contrast of the Divine with man's
sinful, earthly nature.[16]
In Judaism, the shafan in
Hebrew has symbolic meaning.[B][C] Rabbits can carry very positive symbolic connotations, like lions and eagles. 16th century German scholar
Rabbi Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, saw the rabbits as a symbol of the
Jewish diaspora. The replica of the
ChodorowSynagogue from Poland (on display at the
Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in
Tel Aviv) has a ceiling with a large central painting which depicts a double-headed eagle holds two brown rabbits in its claws without harming them. The painting is surrounded by a citation from the end of
Deuteronomy:
כנשר יעיר קינו על גוזליו ירחף. יפרוש כנפיו יקחהו ישאהו על אברתו
This may be translated: "As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, hovereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her pinions (...thus is
God to the Jewish people)."[2]
The hare frequently appears in the form of the symbol of the rotating rabbits. An ancient German
riddle describes this graphic thus:
Three hares sharing three ears,
Yet every one of them has two.[2]
This curious graphic riddle can be found in all of the famous
wooden synagogues from the period of the 17th and 18th century in the
Ashknaz region (in Germany) that are on museum display in
Beth Hatefutsoth Museum in Tel Aviv, the
Jewish Museum Berlin and The
Israel Museum in Jerusalem. They also appear in the Synagogue from
Horb am Neckar (donated to the Israel Museum). The three animals adorn the wooden panels of the prayer room from
Unterlimpurg near
Schwäbisch Hall, which may be seen in replica in the Jewish Museum Berlin. They also are seen in a main exhibit of the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. Israeli art historian Ida Uberman wrote about this house of worship: "... Here we find depictions of three kinds of animals, all organized in circles: eagles, fishes and hares. These three represent the Kabbalistic elements of the world: earth, water and fire/heavens... The fact that they are always three is important, for that number . . . is important in the
Kabbalistic context".[2]
Not only do they appear among floral and animal ornaments, but they are often in a distinguished location, directly above the
Torah ark, the place where the
holy scriptures repose.[2]
Jurgis Baltrusaitis's 1955 Le Moyen-Âge fantastique: Antiquités et exotismes dans l'art gothique[29] includes a 1576 Dutch
engraving with the puzzle given in Dutch and French around the image. This is the oldest known dated example of the motif as a puzzle, with a caption that translates as:
The secret is not great when one knows it.
But it is something to one who does it.
Turn and turn again and we will also turn,
So that we give pleasure to each of you.
And when we have turned, count our ears,
It is there, without any disguise, you will find a marvel.[17]
One recent philosophical book poses it as a problem in perception and an
optical illusion—an example of
contour rivalry. Each rabbit can be individually seen as correct—it is only when you try to see all three at once that you see the problem with defining the hares' ears. This is similar to "The Impossible
Tribar" by
Roger Penrose,[17] originated by
Oscar Reutersvärd. Compare
M.C. Escher's
impossible object.
Other uses and related designs
The Community of
Hasloch's
arms[30] is
blazoned as: Azure edged Or three hares passant in triskelion of the second, each sharing each ear with one of the others, in chief a rose argent seeded of the second, in base the same, features three hares. It is said, "The stone with the image of three hares, previously adorned the old village well, now stands beside the town hall."[31] Hasloch is in the
Main-Spessart district in the Regierungsbezirk of
Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in
Bavaria, Germany.[32]
Tinners' Rabbits is the name of a
Border Morris dance of many forms involving use of sticks and rotation of three, six or nine dancers.[37][38]
The hare is rarely used in British
armory; but "
Argent, three hares playing
bagpipesgules" belongs to the
FitzErcald family of ancient
Derbyshire.[39] Parenthetically, in heraldry the "
Coney", that is the rabbit, is more common than the hare.[39] Three coneys appear in the crests of the families: Marton, co. Lincoln; Bassingthorpe co. Lincoln; Gillingham co. Norfolk and Cunliffe co. Lancashire.[40]
Ushaw College (St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw) is a Roman Catholic
seminary which includes "Three coneys" in its crest. This adornment is from the family coat of arms of
William Allen.
Other coats of arms of English and Irish families have three conies or hares.[42]
"Three Conies Inn" was the name of a 17th-century inn, and three rabbits feeding was used as a motif on the obverse of its
trade token.[43] "The property is believed to date from at least the 17th century; the stone sundial above the former front door shows the date 1622. One of the earliest documented references to the property is an advertisement for the sale of a dwelling in the Northampton Mercury in September 1738. The 1777 Militia List also refers to the 'Three Coneys'".[44]
Among hunters, a collection of three hares ("a
brace and a half" or
tierce)—or three creatures of any kind, especially greyhounds, foxes, bucks—is called "a
leash".[45][46][47]
The Three Rabbits – Animation studio in Budapest, Hungary, a Hungarian animated short film
Three Rabbit Islands – group of three uninhabited small islands off the north coast of Sutherland, Scotland in Tongue BayPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback, in Scotland
^In
Hebrew, the rock hyrax is called שפן סלע (shafan sela), meaning rock shafan, where the meaning of shafan is obscure, but is
colloquially used as a synonym for rabbit in modern Hebrew.
Slifkin, Nosson (1 March 2004).
"6"(PDF). Shafan–The Hyrax. Southfield, MI;
Nanuet, NY: Zoo Torah in association with Targum/Feldheim Distributed by Feldheim. pp. 99–135.
ISBN1-56871-312-6. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2012. {{
cite book}}: |work= ignored (
help)ISBN978-1-56871-312-0.
^Although rabbits are listed as a non-
kosher animal in the Bible, they at least arguably chew their cud, even though they are not a
ruminant, lacking cloven hooves.[25]
Rietstap gives: Quarterly, 1st silver, a lion
sable armed and langued reds; to 2e gules, a silver sword adorned with gold and 3e gules, a sword of gold band and a rifle gold bars, in saltire; to 4e Silver, a chevron azure, with three rabbits sand stream.
Borel Hauterive gives, in the Yearbook of the nobility of France and the royal houses of Europe, T. 21, Paris, 1865: Quarterly, 1st silver, a lion sable armed and langued reds; to 2e gules a sword high silver barons fair district military-3e gules, a sword and a rifle gold necklace set with (weapons of honor) to 4e Silver, a
chevron azure, three rabbits with sand, which is Brumauld.
^The "three hares motif from a window of the Paderborn cathedral cloister (Unity and Trinity as a symbol of the Trinity, the central mystery of faith of the Catholic Church and the whole of Christendom)".
Coat of Arms, Bishop
Paul-Werner Scheele,
Bischof von Würzburg 1979–2003. SeeEcclesiastical heraldry.
^
abcChapman, Chris; Wei, Zhang; Rasmussen, Peter (August 2004).
"The Three Rabbits in China". Adapted from a presentation at the International Conference on
Grottoes Research. Dunhuang China. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
^Terrier, Michel; Greeves, Tom; Andrew, Sue (9 September 2007).
"Trois lièvres à oreilles communes" [Three hares and their ears commune] (Blog) (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2012.
^Gruber, Ruth Ellen.
"The Power of Jewish Tombstones". Travelling with Ruth Ellen Gruber (Blog). Centropa.org. Archived from
the original on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
Dunhuang Research Academy (2006). Jinshi Fan. ed. China Dunhuang. Nanjing: Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House.
ISBN7-5344-2082-2. Photography by Wu Jian, including Caves #305 and #407.
Goepper, Roger. (1996) Alchi: Ladakh's Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary: The Sumtsek. London: Serindia Publications.
ISBN978-1-57062-240-3. Photos of the three hares on
Maitreya's dhoti.
Goepper, Roger. The "
Great Stupa at Alchi" in Artibus Asiae, Vol. LIII 1/2 (1993), pp. 111–43.
Dunhuang Research Academy (2005). Wenjie Duan; Fan, Jinshi. ed. 敦煌石窟全集. 1, 再现敦煌. Hong Kong: The Commercial Press (H.K.) Ltd.
ISBN962-07-5299-6.
Simpson, Geoffrey (6 February 2018). The Three Hares: Bloodline. Three Hares Series. Vol. 1 (Illustrated ed.). Canton, Georgia: thewordverve Incorporated.
ISBN978-1948225182.
Ueckermann, Erhard: Das Hasensymbol am Dom zu Paderborn, im Kloster Hardehausen, in der Kathedralkirche St. Paulus in Münster und der Klosterkirche Haina. In: Zeitschrift für Jagdwissenschaft 41 (1995), S. 285–29.
Tan Chung, Editor. (1994) Dunhuang Art: Through the Eyes of Duan Wenjie. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications.
ISBN81-7017-313-2.
Xizang Zizhiqu (1991) wenwu guanli weiyuanhui. Guge gucheng (The Site of the Ancient
Guge Kingdom). Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, with photos of four hares and other impossible shared-body images.
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