Lots of Moons: What is the “Rabbit in the Moon”?

02 April 2015

The Short Answer (TSA)

What is the moon rabbit? Well, simply put, some people see a man’s face in the peaks, valleys, and craters of the moon’s surface. Others see a rabbit. Yes, a rabbit.

Man or rabbit, the psychological term for these perceptions are “pareidolic images.” Human beings have been seeing the shapes of faces, animals and many, many other things in the clouds since forever. It’s so easy that it’s played as a game. But some pareidolic images persist and become part of the traditions of particular cultures.

But to become traditional, it helps if people see the image in a rock (like the moon) instead of a cloud. Why? Because, unlike clouds, rocks don’t change so much over time. So, when you see the shape of a man’s face, or the shape of a rabbit on the face of the moon, there’s plenty of time to tell everyone you know about it – to “popularize” your version of what you see.

The man in the moon has a long, long history in western Europe. Surprisingly, so does the “rabbit in the moon” in some other cultures such as East Asian folklore and Aztec mythology. In China, the rabbit is portrayed as the companion of moon goddess Chang’e.

The Moon Rabbit?

Apparently, the goddess has been on the moon for a long, long time, because her rabbit companion is using an apothecary’s (pharmacist’s) mortar and pestle to mix a batch of the elixir of life for to keep her young and alive. On the other hand, the Japanese and Koreans seem to see Chang’e as forever young. And the goddess doesn’t need a rabbit to help her stay that way. Instead, in these cultures, Chang’e just likes cake. And guess what the rabbit in the moon is preparing for her? This bunny is mixing the ingredients needed to make rice cake.

Sometimes, called the Gold Rabbit or the Jade Rabbit, this latter name, the Chinese Yutu, was selected in an online poll as the name of the Chinese lunar rover.