The hares sharing only three ears

WE HAVE COME ACROSS this type of curious motif once before in the parish church at Long Melford (Suffolk), and recently (September 2024) in the parish church at Long Crendon (Buckinghamshire). The motif consists of three hares (or rabbits) in a circle and joined by their ears which form a triangle at the centre of the design. Each creature appears to have two ears, but between them, they share only three ears. At Long Melford, this image can be seen in a small piece of mediaeval stained glass in a window on the north side of the church. At Long Crendon, it can be seen on a small 14th century tile close to the high altar.

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According to the guidebook we obtained in the church at Long Crendon, the three hare/rabbit motif is only seen in a few places in Britain (including 12 of the Stannary villages in Devon and Cornwall, Long Melford, Lavenham, and Chester Cathedral). Also, it stated that it can be seen:

“… in a few places stretching from China to Europe along the Silk Road.”

Well, this got me very interested, and I did a little research on the Internet. Soon, I came across a website, “Three Hares Project” (www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/page7.htm). ?This site contains a mine of information including a map showing where the motif has been found along the Silk Route and other places.

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The earliest examples that have been found are on the ceilings of ?Buddhist caves near Dunhuang in China. They been dated as having been placed there between 581 AD and 907 AD. The three hares have also been found on a late 12th or early 13th century Iranian tray made of brass inlaid with copper. Another example was found painted on the ceiling panel that once used to adorn an 18th century German synagogue. The authors of the website noted:

“The three hares are also found in glass and ceramic wares from the Islamic world.”

So, it appears that the motif that we have seen in churches was not confined to Christian usage.

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As to the meaning of the three hares/rabbits motif, the website offered the following:

“… as yet, we have not come across a contemporary written record of its meaning … The hare is strongly represented in world mythology and from ancient times has had divine associations. Its elusiveness and unusual behaviour, particularly at night, have reinforced its reputation as a magical creature. The hare was believed to have mystical links to the female cycle and to the moon which governed it.”

What it meant to Christians, who placed the motif in their churches, was suggested on the website. It said that the ancients believed that the hare was hermaphroditic, and could give birth to its offspring without need for copulation. In relation to this, the learned Thomas Browne (1605-1682) wrote in 1646 in his “Pseudodoxia Epidemica”:

“THE double sex of single Hares, or that every Hare is both male and female, beside the vulgar opinion, was the affirmative of Archelaus, of Plutarch, Philostratus, and many more. Of the same belief have been the Jewish Rabbins: The same is likewise confirmed from the Hebrew word; which, as though there were no single males of that kind, hath only obtained a name of the feminine gender.” (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo317.html).

This belief might have led Christians of old to compare the hare to the Virgin Mary and the birth of her well-known son.

Another less likely possibility is that the three creatures have something to do with representing the Holy Trinity.

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Whatever its meaning, I find the motif of three hares sharing three ears almost as fascinating as the eagle with one body and two heads (the double-headed eagle, such as seen, for example, on the flag of Albania and the crest of the Indian State of Karnataka).