Shane Lehane's deep interest in the Irish Hare has led him to write a paper entitled the The Cailleach and the Cosmic Hare, and he fills us in on some of the folk beliefs that have sprung up around this mysterious and magical creature on Mooney Goes Wild.
Shane discusses the hare in Irish folklore as a fascinating creature which we hold dearly but was also much reviled, hunted and killed.
He says the Hare appears at two points in the calendar, the end of the harvest and one the first of May. The Hare is symbolic of wild nature, independence and has become a symbol of how humans try and control nature.
On May morning, there was a belief that old women, known as a Cailleach would transform into a hare and suckle the profits away from cattle.
