Hares are regarded as fertility symbols due to the amount of time they dedicate to wooing and coupling,
as well as the rapidity with which they reproduce. It's no surprise that the hare has long
been revered in pagan springtime ceremonies, eventually evolving into the Easter Bunny as traditions changed.
The shadowy pattern of the full moon has been interpreted as the shape of a hare by tribes all across the world.
The hare in the moon, on the other hand, is not a lost soul.
It is a friend of the benign goddess Chang'e in China, for example,
and is preparing an immortality medicine for her people down below.
An earthly hare sits with its head raised upwards towards its representation
in heaven in the artistic motif of the moon-gazing hare.