Funny Bunny.

I once spoke about the importance of lilies wrt. Easter and now lets talk a bit about Bunnies. ASIDE: Did I ever tell you my Easter story about chocolate Easter Bunnies and Eggs? (Not for the faint of heart.) I was about 10, and it was an unseasonably warm Easter morning. My siblings & I had voraciously eaten all our chocolatey goodies (Do you first eat the head, ears, feet or ass of your bunny? There must be some psychological study on the Freudian aspects of this. I'm strictly a head-man, but I digress...) and we got in our Sunday best and head to church. At that time, I was singing Soprano in the Junior choir, not yet adopting the low bass tone to my voice and we were located near the organ to the left of the pulpit. During one particularly long prayer, I decided to pass out from the heat. I came to in the arms of a man in a white robe surrounded by others all adorned in white robes, while the Nicene Creed was being uttered in the background. Heavenly! It turns out that the organist had seen my plight, left his post and carried me out to the back. I was placed on a table, a nurse & doctor from the congregation were checking me over and then I proceeded to barf up all my chocolate eggs into the hands of the organist. Needless to say, he was late to give the Minister (MY DAD) his cue for the next hymn. That organist, by the by, just happens to be the uncle of one of Canada's most famous hockey announcer, Chris Cuthbert whose book, "The Rink" can be bought here.

But back to the bunnies...How on Earth did rabbits and eggs come to symbolize Easter anyway? It all boils down (Hmmm. Shades of Fatal Attraction) to Christians' habit of adopting pagan rituals to explain some form of Christianity. In this case, why not use ancient fertility symbols to justify the Rebirth of JC?

Didja know that the Japanese (and Koreans) don't see a man in the moon, but a rabbit making 餅 (mochi or rice cakes.) 月の兎 which means Moon Rabbit refers the pareidoliac tendency for humans to see images in things (such as witnessing the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich.) We have a full moon now and last night I saw a rabbit there, only it wasn't making mochi or grilled cheese, it was making bunnies.





According to the Chinese calendar, people born under the Year of the Rabbit 兎 (usagi 1999, 1987, 1975, 1963...) are the most fortunate. They are smooth talkers, talented, ambitious, virtuous and reserved.





Let's not forget that the protagonist of Sailor Moon is named 月野 うさぎ or Tsukino Usagi (Literally, Moon/Field Rabbit) and is nicknamed "Bunny". (This is a scan of my bathroom towel!)






For my local readers who are seeking out all manners of Bunny-goodness, be sure to shop here. Speaking of Bunny-goodness, if it turns out that I have to leave the city to acquire lucrative employment, I want to go here for my sayonora party!









For a really racist portrayal of the Japanese, go no further than Warner Brothers for Bugs Bunny strikes again:



Oh yeah, Alex's hockey team, the Snots beat the Rabbits 9-0 last night!