Who's throwing rabbits at the Moon?
Western culture knows of the face on the moon and the man on the moon, but it’s not something I was able to picture. Though when I look at clouds or the spots on my walls or the ceiling, I imagine the weirdest things. There has been plenty of scientific study into how and the reasons why people see recognizable shapes in random patterns. Even looking back to the 1930s neuroscientists were skeptical into the reliability of Rorschach Inkblot Tests, along with the issues that could be brought up from assumptions about personalities and mental illnesses (Hertz, 1934; Wood, 2003). Pareidolia is a vague “universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious” (Hume, 1957: 29 in Dacey, 2017). In the case of the moon, cultures all over the world have different ideas about what they saw and still see in the shadows of the moon craters, especially variable when looking from the variety of locations depending on the latitude in the North and South hemispheres. Neuroscientist Joel Voss has been studying the purpose of the human brain's wiring to recognize new images, and the general conclusion he drew was that the brain is “a flexible, all-purpose machine meant to succeed in whatever random environment it inhabits. To triumph in strange places, Voss says, the brain must be able to quickly process unfamiliar visual stimuli—like new shapes and lines—and figure out what's worth paying attention to” (Voss in Drake, 2014).
I don’t picture the man as Europeans were raised on, looking at the northern hemisphere, or the woman, when I looked from the southern hemisphere (never thought about it). I can see a fish, but only if actively trying to see something. When I asked my mom, she said that she could picture a butterfly in the top left shadow, where I can see the fish tail and where the ears of the rabbit are. So, while I can’t really see the face on the moon, if pressed, I can picture the rabbit on the moon, and it appears recorded in an interesting mixture of disconnected and connected cultural areas.
Aztecs view of the Rabbit in the Moon (Jim Mikoda, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum).
Rabbit in the moon (compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore).
But, before getting trapped in a different rabbit hole, diving into the psychology and neuroscience of vision, that rabbit will pop out and guide us through history and mythology instead. But, there’s the question, why a rabbit?
Part 1: Mesoamerica
Maya Region
The Classic “Evil Maya Bunny”
The temple of the skull was the first incarnation that I had seen of the “evil Maya bunny” as our archaeological study abroad group called it. We also called our group the Adventure Van, so, you can tell that we were not clever. While in Palenque, we came to the area with the temple pyramids next to the palace, had a lecture and proceeded to climb each one that was open. The Temple of the Skull, next to the closed Temple of Inscriptions, was where the stucco sculptures of the rabbit skulls were seen by a group of nine archaeology students in 2013, and hundreds of thousands of people after, during, and for hundreds of years before us.
Take a look at the Palenque Archaeological site
Photos of Palenque - all are my own work from 2013
View from the entrance
From the Temple of the Skull looking at the Palace and the adjacent Temple of Inscriptions.
From the Palace's second floor, Temple of Inscriptions and Temple of the Skull
Temple of the Cross complex
While the name ‘Palenque’ is Spanish for palisade, but the Spanish didn’t name the city, and instead butchered the Nahuatl word plaa-n-ka meaning ‘decay or putrescence’ (Espinosa, 1976: 180, Stross, 1984: 285). Even this, however, as an Uto-Aztec language name, wouldn’t have been what the inhabitants, living in the Late Preclassic to Early Postclassic Maya periods [~200-900 CE], would have called their city. Tzeltal, the language and the group of peoples, still live today in Chiapas, Mexico, are the descents of those who built and resided in sites like Palenque and Tikal (Schmal, 2004; Stross, 1984). Further research, and discussion with locals from other scientists, had determined the possible original name of the city of Palenque was Ghochan (Stross, 1984). Possibility derived from either joch ‘empty’, unoccupied, joch’ ‘wood borer, dry rot’, or the cognate of joch’ meaning ‘worm eaten’, all of which could, maybe, in a roundabout way, connect to the Aztecs’ name of ‘decay’ (Laughlin, 1975; Lhuillier, 1960: 4; Stross, 1982; 1985). In Yucatec Maya, however, the name for Palenque is Bàak, meaning ‘bone’ or ‘horn’, and also Lakamha, which means “Great Waters”, which could easy connect with its geographical local of being built right beside a large, permanent waterfall (Stross, 1984; Stuardo, 2020). Since the city-state of B’aakal is thought to have been abandoned something around 800 CE, after the end of the Late Classic period, the thought I had was that some of the “Bone city” usage came up after its peak (but I have zero evidence of this).
Both photos are of Waterfalls fall along the path from the site to the museum (own work, 2013).
Since the Mayan form of writing was in glyphs, their place names were, logically, in that representation. There are four different variants of the name glyph: one being some kind of bird, and the other three depicting bones, two of which are skulls from a brocket deer or a rabbit (Schele, 1977). Some academics have said that the deer and the rabbit animal alter egos are interchangeable in Mayan folklore and thus both of the emblem glyphs signify Palenque; although the deer is also thought to carry the sun to the hare’s moon (Codex Borgia: 33; Linda Schele in Kelley, et al., 2002).
Whatever the name really was, or whether it changed over time, the stucco skull still lies at the top of the Temple of the Skull, otherwise identified as Temple XII and Temple of the Dead Moon. The stucco is on the lone-remaining front facing pillar of the Temple of the Skull, which shares the pyramid platform with the Temple of the Red Queen, named for the Queen buried underneath. Both of these temples have been dated to the 700s CE and were built upon hundreds of years of older building layers, with the base being a vault containing elite jade jewelry and some human bone (Bell, 2020). So, with the little information that we have, it’s mainly thought the relief is either a symbol of Palenque itself or that it represents a connection to the moon through the goddesses of the moon, such as Awilix, that are depicted holding a rabbit as pets, causing the rabbit’s moon shadow, and therefore, the lunar cycle rituals ("Rabbit Skull Relief", 2020).
Moon goddess holding her rabbit, Classic Maya incised vessel, c. AD 700 (American Museum of Natural History, 30.3/1048, drawing by Simon Martin).
*Nahuatl:
1. the Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuatl
2. a member of a group of peoples native to southern Mexico and Central America, including the Aztecs
Goddess I, Ixchel, and More
Within the Maya area there were multiple stories of different gods and goddesses being the moon, or at least part of the moon’s story. The traditional Maya moon goddess during the Classic period was represented in the K’iché/Quiché Popol Vuh, written in the 16th century, and the Dresden Codex. In some versions, her name was either Goddess I ('White Woman'), Goddess O/Ixchel (‘Red Woman’), or Awilix, and is sometimes separate from the lunar rabbit, a trickster character in the classic iconography (Carmack 2001:.362-363; Fox 1987 & 2008:.205; Taube 1992: 64-68; Thompson 1960: 240-241).
In some versions within the Maya area, Goddess I was the terrestrial version of the water/moon goddess who was, more so, associated with wells, rainfall, and/or the rainy season, the name of whom we don’t know (Taube 1992:145).
Possible representation of Goddess I from the Late Classic Period. Museo de América, Madrid: 600-900 CE (by Simon Burchell)
Ixchel, or Goddess O, also known as the ‘Red Woman’, was a goddess of healing and birthing and was often depicted as an old woman or a midwife. Her name likely came either from the Yucatec Mayan, in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula, or from the Poqomchiʼ (Part of the Quichean–Poqom language branch of Mayan used in many regions of Guatemala, as it was used in both areas (Bricker, 1998; "Demografía". Municipalidad de Chicamán; Gordon, 2005; Miles 1957: 748)). Sometimes conflated with the ‘White Woman’ or Goddess I, Ixchel is supposed to represent different aspects of the moon, or the interpretation of the moon in various stages of ‘her feminine cycle’, which is extremely prominent in the mythos. When written about in the codices, the distinction will be made by the appearance of either the glyph for ‘white’ (sak) or ‘red’ (chak) before the glyph for ‘women’ (ixik) (Stone & Zender, 2011: 35).
Name glyph of Ix Chel including the prefix 'red', Dresden Codex (drawn by Erin_Silversmith).
The word chak means “red” but also “great”. In Maya cosmology, red is also associated with the East (Davies, 2016 <https://mayaarchaeologist.co.uk/2016/06/01/maya-words-glyphs-colours/>).
(right) The color white can be represented by the logo sak and can represent the North (Davies, 2016; Pitts, 2008: 24).
As an extremely short and not at all nuanced summary of why the moon exists in phases from one particular area:
The Q’epchi myth has Po, the Moon Goddess, the daughter of the Earth God, being “wooed” and captured by the Sun and then they sleep together. Whether consensual or not, the pair are discovered by the Moon’s father who punishes her, not the Sun god, by literally destroying her. Braakhuis (2005) states that this is likely the origin for female menstruation, it’s a punishment on all women because of one of whom may not have even had a choice (but even if she did the sex willingly, definitely not a feminist mythological culture). Luckily for the rest of existence the ‘evil blood’ was poured into 13 jars, which ended up transforming into animals, plants, poison, disease, and medicine, with the 13th jar holding the reborn Moon herself (Braakhuis, 2005:175-176; Braakhuis, 2010: 184-214; Thompson, 1930: 126-132, 125-138; Thompson 1939).
In other regions Ixchel is described as a jaguar decorated Earth and war goddess, connecting more with the Aztec Tlaltecuhtli, Tocî, and Cihuacoatl, who were called upon to aid midwives. With these sorts of connections, one Verapaz myth connects her with a spouse, Itzamna, and her thirteen sons, and possibility the sweatbath (Coe, 1977: 329). Another myth, from Oaxaca, has Ixchel as the aged mother of the Sun and the Moon, is imprisoned within the sacred sweatbathes to become their patron deity (Thompson, 1970: 358-359)[RW1] . Neither of these connect to the moon, and the second has Ixchel interchanged with Xkitza, the Oaxacan Old Adoptive Mother, who doesn’t seem to connect to the sweatbathes (Thompson, 1970: 355-356). Suffice to say, the mythology and general history from the region at large has been sufficiently twisted, especially since the records were written down in the 16th century, so unfortunately, we can’t be sure of the original stories.
Awilix
The Classic period Maya moon goddess may have been a forerunner of Awilix. (Unknown Maya artist) - Francis Robicsek: The Maya Book of the Dead. The Ceramic Codex, University of Virginia Art Museum (1981).
Some studies, instead, refer to Awilix as the general goddess of the moon and the queen of the night, possibly derived from the Chontal Maya moon goddess C’abawil Ix in the Classic [250 CE-900 CE] and/or the K’iché Postclassic [900 CE -1521 CE] periods of Maya history (Carmack, 2001a;.362-363; Fox, 1987; 2008: 205; Orellana, 1981: 160). Awilix, and one of her representations, as a hare, was portrayed in the Maya calendar as a symbol of the Ajaw (ruler) of the Kʼicheʼ capital Qʼumarkaj, and as the month of Ch’en, meaning ‘well’, as in “Moon has gone to her well” (Carmack, 2001a: 362-363; Fox, 1987 [2008]:205; Thompson, 1970: 362). This expression is thought to refer to the New Moon, which could refer to the number of new moons that appear in the month or since she is also associated with one of “the Venus ‘years’” [RW2] (Milbrath, 1999: 107-109). [RW3] It could also have to do with the number of eclipses recorded and projected in the Dresden Codex, and by the Lunar Series on the Long Count [calendar], with her specific calendar day probably being ik’ meaning “moon” in the 20-day cycle (Carmack, 2001a: 275; Milbrath, 1999: 107-109). Depending on the specific Mayan language, K’iché, Q’eqchi’, and possibly the Aztec Nahuatl, the stories vary more based on the totem animals than what the goddess represents; the eagle for the lunar aspect, and the jaguar for the aspect of the night, along with her association to the Underworld (Carmack, 2001a: 275, 363). Similarly, the swallow kwilix/wilix in the Q’eqchi’, may have been where her name Awilix, was originally derived, before her worship spread along with the Popul Vuh (Carmack, 2001a: 363; Christenson, [2003] 2007: 198 n.552; Fox, [1987] 2008; Fox & Cook, 2008: 205).
Common Blood Motif
It seems that a common theme for a blood moon is to connect its concept to the mythology of a goddess. From the K’iché manuscript Popol Vuh, there was also the goddess Xquic, daughter of Cuchumaquic, who was one of the Lords of Xibalba (Underworld), and she was sometimes mentioned as “Blood Moon” or “Blood Girl/Maiden” (Colop, 2009; de Bourbourg, 1861; Read & Gonzalez, 2002; Taube, 1992; Tedlock, 1985). Long story very short, this woman appears in more of a creation/virgin birth myth, rather than having any specific ties to the moon or to rabbits. These new ties gave a more peaceful transfer of power to the newly arrived, and conquering, Christianity as they can connect to the origin myth of the Hero Twins, a staple in many Mesoamerican regions and specific cultures (Tedlock, 1985).
Goddess O: Ixchel (unknown Maya artist: 1282; Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA: 1988).
"The Maya Moon goddess, as depicted on a drinking vessel excavated at Sacul, Petén, Guatemala. Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén, Dolores, Petén, Guatemala" (Simon Burchell derivative work - cropped and lightened).
"Moon goddess and romantic partner, ceramic figurine, possibly Jaina Island, Mexico, 700 CE" (Princeton Art Museum 2016-1123).
It’s unclear whether the rabbit in the proceeding two images, being posed with the gods, is supposed to be identified as the mostly unknown Moon Goddess, however, it is thought by archaeologists to connect the Goddess and God, shown[RW4] , with a function of the Moon, and to specifically be identified as a lunar rabbit, and, as mentioned previously, is sometimes portrayed in oral stories to be a Trickster archetype (Taube, 1992). This aspect shows up within the mythology from the Maya people of Chiapas and the Northwestern Highlands of Guatemala, wherein the Moon is either the Sun’s mother or grandmother, and the Lunar Rabbit is either a god or goddess caught and shape-changed by the Moon, or it is a creature that helped maize regrow in the Sun’s field before being taken back into the sky (Milbrath, 1999: 24; Thompson, 1970: 362).
The figure, Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil, (likely also known as "Eighteen Rabbit"), was the 13th ajaw/ruler who ruled from around 695-738 CE, the powerful Maya polity that contains the site of Copán, or in its Classic Mayan - Oxwitik in modern Honduras (Sharer, 2006; Stuart, 1996). Like other rulers, there is an animal component to his name, but, so far, archaeologists and historians haven’t made any links from these names to anything else. Though, their names are fun. One possible connection, made by me (so barely accurate) is from stela A, which states that Copán ranks with three other kingdoms, Calakmul, Palenque, and Tikal; the latter two of the three were on the same side and Palenque, which houses the stucco rabbit skull (Martin, 2008; Sharer, 2006).
*Just like today there is a ton of political nuance that I am not equipped to get into. I will only wonder out loud, does having the name ‘rabbit’ connect this man to Palenque in away way?*
"Stela F was commissioned by Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil (18 Rabbit): dedicated with a date of 9.14.10.0.0 5 Ahaw 3 Mak – the 7th October 721 CE. He holds the serpent bar, but here two gods associated with the Evening Star emerge from the serpents’ mouths. Stela F portrays 18-Rabbit as a mighty ball-game player and warrior".
"Stela H is another of Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil’s masterpieces and is dated with a Long Count of 9.14.19.5.0 - the 5th December 730 CE. Elaborates on the story of the death and rebirth of the Maize God. On the back of the monument you can see a highly decorative “backrack” – an archaic Mayan carrying device formed by inserting two sticks into the rear of a thick padded belt".
"Stela B was commissioned by Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil and is dedicated with a Long Count date of 9.15.0.0.0 4 Ahau 13 Yax, which equates to the 22nd August, 731AD. On its eastern side the king is shown in holding the serpent bar of divine kingship and his head emerges from the jaws of the Macaw Mountain Monster (mo’ witz)."
"Stela D was dedicated with a Long Count date of 9.15.5.0.0 10 Ahau 8 Chen, which translates to 26th July 736 CE. This makes it the last monument erected by 18 Rabbit before he was captured and beheaded by Cauac Sky of Quirigua. The front of Stela D shows 18 Rabbit holding the serpent sceptre, with the swept back hair of the Maize God, a wrinkled old face and a beard".
- Heyworth, R. 2014
<https://uncoveredhistory.com/honduras/copan/the-stelae-of-copan/>
Aztec
Although the Aztecs have the goddess of the moon, see <link to Coatlicue and Tits Magee article>, as their story telling moved away from the goddesses that shape mythology, they seem to have stronger connections to the moon itself. Rather than the rabbit loosely symbolizing the gods, appearing as a pet, or otherwise, there are short tales where the rabbit is more or less the hero, or an innocent bystander being thrown at stuff.
Quetzalcoatl (or just a man) was living on Earth and walked on a long journey, but without food or water he was sure he would die. Then a rabbit who was grazing nearby offers to share her food with the tired and hungry Quetzalcoatl. He tells the rabbit he doesn’t eat vegetables, so she then offers herself as food. Moved by the rabbit’s altruism, Quetzalcoatl embeds the rabbit’s image on the moon so that the entire world will remember her (unknown direct origin).
Another Aztec myth, and its variations, tell a different version of how a rabbit came to be on the moon and the part the god of Tecciztecatl played in the creation of the fifth sun.
1) Tecciztacatl and Nanahuatzin both vied to become a new sun after the previous one died, Nanahuatzin jumped into the fire first, before being followed by Tecciztecatl. Angry at Tecciztactl for being too slow, the other Aztec gods threw a rabbit at him, which left an impression and dimmed Tecciztecatl’s illumination so that he could only be seen in the night sky.
-or-
2) Nanahuatzin, being extremely humble, sacrificed himself in fire to become the new sun, but Tecciztacatl was too cowardly to jump right into the fire and thus hesitated four times. Because of this the other gods thought he shouldn’t shine as brightly as the sun and, like in the previous story, threw a rabbit at his face.
-or even-
3) [Possibly the nicest version] When sacrificing himself to become the moon Tecciztecatl was in the form of a rabbit and thus he cast his shadow.
- (Smith, 2012)
-or even, again-
4) “The gods were teasing the moon and flung a rabbit in its face. And the rabbit remained marked on the moon’s face. That is what darkened the face of the moon, as though it had been bruised. Upon which the moon went out to light the world.” – Translation of the Florentine Codex (Mursell, 2020).
Because the rabbit/hare was the Aztecs’ favored creature for hunting, it was identified with the Chichimecs, the hunter-gatherers, and the patron hunting god, Mixcoatl, also known as the “cloud serpent”.
According to Miller and Taub, “In Postclassic Central Mexico, the rabbit was also closely identified with the intoxicating drink pulque. This association is well documented in the day name Tochtli, meaning rabbit in Nahuatl. The patron of Tochtli was Mayahuel, the goddess of maguey [agave plant] and by extension its principle product, pulque” (142). Moreover, the many pulque gods were known collectively as the Ometochtli, a calendar name, with the literal meaning of “2 Rabbit” [a specific date] which comes from the Classic Nahuatl word for pulque (octli) (Miller & Taube, 1993: 136; Smith, 2003: 88). From the Codex Borgia, researchers found that Ometochtli is the calendar name of the god Tepoztēcatl/Tēzcatzontēcatl, which translates roughly to “workable metal person” or “mirror 400 person” respectively. He is shown as the god of pulque, drunkenness, and fertility (along with his consort Xōchiquetzal, and was one of the Centzon Totochtin, meaning “400 rabbits” (Canto Aguilar 1998; Fernández, [1992] 1996: 146; Miller and Taub, 1993: 142).
Possible depiction of the Centzon Tōtōchtin in the Florentine Codex
(under leadership of Bernardino de Sahagún - https://www.wdl.org/en/item/10096/view/1/406/).
- (Miller, 2019: 74)
On the top the deer (L) carries the sun and the rabbit/hare (R) carries the moon; on the bottom the heads of a rabbit/hare (L) and a deer (R) - 2 daysigns in the sacred calendar. (Codex Borgia: 33 & 8).
Rabbit/hare in the moon (Codex Borgia: 55).
Rabbit shaped vessel probably used for containing pulque, the rabbit, and the rabbit deity Ome Tochtli, was a symbol of pulque: (Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City).
(Full-Color Restorations of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript by
Gisele Díaz and Alan Rodgers, Dover Publications, New York, 1993)
*Whenever 400 is used, it likely means an incalculable number (Fernández, [1992] 1996: 146).
The base of their math system was 20.*
*Pulque: alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. [From experience it tastes a bit like Tequila, SO IT’S PRETTY GOOD, and it looks like very pale green snot. My professor loved it.]*
"Rabbit, Mexica (Aztec), stone, c. 1500 CE, 33 x 22 x 24 cms., National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City. From Aztecs, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2002, p. 417." (Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore).
Other Artefacts
Teotihuacán
View in Teotihuacán from the Temple of the Moon, down the Avenue of the Dead, and toward the Temple of the Sun, with an example of rabbit/hare/jackrabbit sculpture in lower right corner (picture comp. from Ancient Inhabitants of the Great City of Teotihuacan in Mexico Farmed Rabbits. <- nice easy read
In the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Teotihuacán evidence of cages for breeding rabbits and hares, or as the academic articles call them, cottontails and jackrabbits, have been examined within the past 10 years (Somerville, et al, 2016; 2017). The large urban metropolis of Teotihuacán, that was built in the center of Mexico, is thought to have been established around 100 BCE with a population at its height estimated at 125,000 or more from around 1 CE to 500 CE, and that collapsed approximately 50 years later when monuments and murals were sacked and systematically burnt (Dept. AAOA, “Teotihuacán”, 2001; King, 2004; Millon, 1993:18). To support such a large population, leporids (cottontails and jackrabbits) were bred and managed by humans for food and secondary products such as furs (Sommerville, et.al., 2016; Sommerville, et.al., 2017). The evidence for this is found in traces of butchering on the leporid bones and from the isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen of many archaeological specimens. These analyses showed that rather than hunting and butchering wild rabbits, the animals were subsisting on the cultivated food of the humans (Sommerville, et.al., 2016; Sommerville, et.al., 2017).
Illustration of stone Leproid (Cottontail and Jackrabbit) sculpture from the Oztoyahualco 15B apartment compound in Teotihuacán (Manzanilla ed. 1993; drawing by Fernando Botas).
Jade rabbit statue with a warrior head with a helmet in the form of an eagle between its legs, one of the Drunken Rabbits. Artefact from Mexico. Aztec Civilization, 15th Century (Credit: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection).
So far, I haven’t found any connection to the Temple of the Moon, the Northernmost temple of the Avenue of the Dead, with the Oztoyahualco, the residential and business compound north of the temple. Hopefully more field work can continue in the near future.
Olmec
The oldest group of people in Mesoamerica flourished from the Formative period into the Preclassic, from around 1500 BCE to around 400 BCE, with their central location at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan in southeastern Veracruz, growing the Olmec Heartland (Diehl, 2004; Pool, 2007: 2). With their wide range of food options, one of the animals the Olmecs hunted was rabbits, the evidence of which has been found in midden surveys (Davies, 1982: 39; VanDerwarker, 2006: 141–144).
The major Formative Period (PreClassic Era - around 600 BCE) sites in present-day Mexico which show the Olmec heartland influences in the archaeological record (Diehl, 2004).
Similar to the shaping of the pulque vessel from the Aztecs, is a drinking vessel dating to between 1200 BCE and 1000 BCE from the Olmecs. Likely also connecting to the later rabbit god of drunkenness and fertility (Heritage Auctions, 2008; Miller, 2019).
Rabbit God, Pre-Columbian Art from Chicayan, Ozuluama, Veracruz in the National Museum of Anthropology Mexico City (National Museum of Anthropology Mexico City, 2008).
Creator Unknown(Mayan), Rabbit head of stone, San Andres Tuxtla, Vera Cruz, Mexico (found here by Chungwoo Lee <http://chungwoo.egloos.com/3536293>).
"A rabbit sculpture in a small park in Misantla, Vera Cruz. This and another sculpture, of a bearded man emerging from a shell, were moved to the village from the nearby Los Idolos pyramid mounds" in Northern Colombia (Mesoamerican Stone Sculpture [Maya or Olmec] A Photo Gallery © 1999 by James Q. Jacobs).
Toltec
The Toltecs were a culture who predated the Aztec empire by a few hundred years, being at their height in the Post Classic from 800 to 1100 CE, based in Tula, and possibly extended to the Maya city of Chichén Itzá (Smith, 2007). The Aztec culture would later adopt much of the Toltec culture and glorified “their intellectual and cultural predecessors”, which lead scholars to acknowledging the largely mythical narrative of historical events (Berit, 2015; Smith, 2007).
In the Codex Borgia’s illustration of Tepoztēcatl, the rabbit/pulque god is holding a bent stick, rather than the later Mendoza Codex of 1541, in which he is thought to be wielding a copper axe. This seems to make a narrative sense because of the Aztecs’ mythological view of all things Toltec, and shows the roots of their inspiration (Séjourné, 1994).
Tepoztēcatl, described in the Codex Borgia - holding a bent hunting stick (Díaz & Rodgers, 1993).
Flat curved sticks, or Rabbit Sticks, are the Mesoamerican “non-returning boomerangs” found in Chichén Itzá, Tula, etc, are thought to have been used to hunt animals, rabbits included. But these weapons were not restricted to hunting, they are believed to have also been wielded by Maya and Toltec warriors, who also held a good shield to guard against atlatl darts (Geib, 2018). Their use also extended up into the American Southwest’s (into Texas and New Mexico) cultural groups, such as Puebloans, in which had a decent amount of cultural overlap with their southern neighbors (Geib, 2018; Morris, 1931).
"Flat curved sticks dredged from the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, nine fragments from three separate artifacts : (a) distal end, (b) three portions representing handle, midsection and distal end, and (c) five portions representing handle and distal end plus much of the midsection. Collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography. Photographs by author" Geib, 2018).
"Elite warriors and probable military leaders associated with green feathered serpent gesturing while holding flat curved sticks, lower row of figures at the bottom of mural, southwest panel, Upper Temple of the Jaguar, Chichen Itza. Image cropped from the reconstructed painting by Adela Breton, archives of the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (from Finegold 2012:Figures 147i–147k)" (Geib, 2018).
Soft, Fluffy, Boney Conclusions
In this particular area, not even growing the topic into North or South America, there are multiple gods, goddesses, and creatures in myths, which pull together all of the aspects of the moon and rabbits that we can all understand today.
In fact, the connections in these mythologies makes so much regular, logical sense that it makes me wonder if archaeologists only came to these conclusions BECAUSE they “make sense” from a western perspective. And with a general human perspective looking at the entire region: The cultures were interwoven, and later cultures took inspiration from the great kingdoms of the past. And most of, if not all, cultures in the world saw that the moon has a monthly lunar cycle, just like a women’s menstruation, so a woman could be the origin of the moon. And, with women’s obvious connection to fertility, in the general sense, the moon would as well. Then, with rabbits’ young age of fertility, their short gestation period, and because of their habitat niche as prey animals required they keep the population numbers high, they are constantly viewed as a fertility symbol and an easily accessible food source. Somewhat like the cultivation of maize. When looking at human behavior, it makes sense that rabbits would be connected with the most popular alcoholic beverage of the region at the time, since alcohol generally releases inhibitions, ‘sometimes’ leading to more babies. Therefore, the connection between the moon goddess and a rabbit companion is hardly unfounded.
*To be continued*
*And if anyone was confused about how there were so many “# Rabbit” it’s their date of birth name, like calling someone born on September third, Three September.*
Further Reading:
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
Studying the brain regions activated when a person sees the squiggles by Joel Voss, Kara D Federmeier, and Ken A Paller in 2012
For an easy synopsis of all these myths: Moon Rabbit Myths from Around the World by DEBEYSKLENAR, 2018 - https://debeysklenar.wordpress.com/2018/09/09/moon-rabbit-myths-from-around-theworld/#:~:text=The%20Indian%20tale%20of%20the,as%20a%20hungry%20old%20man.&text=Those%20looking%20for%20the%20Jade,divine%20elixir%20to%20this%20day.
If you want a pet rabbit and want to learn more: http://www.rabbitmatters.com/rabbit-stories.html
Another Aztec Creation of the Moon myth – the 2nd part of Ben Traven’s Book. <https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/stories/creation-of-the-moon>
So much more info on the Aztec Codex Borgia, with its own follow up links: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/early-cultures/aztec-mexica/a/codex-borgia
Photos of the Codex Borgia [Digital Library]: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Borg.mess.1
Berrin, Kathleen, and Esther Pasztory. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1993.
[BOOK] Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1988
Sugiyama, Saburo, and Ruben Cabrera. Voyage to the Center of the Moon Pyramid: Recent Discoveries in Teotihuacan. Exhibition catalogue. Tempe: Arizona State University, 2004.
Eighteen Rabbit: The Intimate Life and Tragic Death of a Maya God-King. 2nd Edition. by Janice Van Cleve.
Videos:
Holiday Tales: Easter! : OSP - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-Hhy-14qw
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