Patricia contacted me through this blog because her mother gave her a “gag Easter gift” – a small statue of a bunny on a chicken. “It was so bizarre, she and my brother had a good laugh over it and decided to buy it for me. I wondered…why is this bunny on this chicken??? Is this some holiday tradition??? After Googling, I found your blog post and was dumbfounded by the similarities between our treasures. I have to know what this means!”
This is Patricia’s statue:
And this is mine from my recent post:
I’ve tried but I can not for the life of me figure out why a bunny would be riding a chicken. I’ve looked up European fairy tales, legends, stories, and I can’t find any reference to a mythical society where rabbits routinely ride chickens.
Rabbits are typically symbols of fertility and therefore an appropriate mascot for Spring where we literally have the rebirth of the earth so that might explain the rabbit. And eggs are also considered a symbol of fertility so maybe someone created a mashup of favorite fertility symbols (and here is where I, the mother of 6, say I am glad that no one has ever created a statue of me riding a chicken).
Here’s my question for the day, does anyone out there have any knowledge of bunnies riding chickens (I’m talking to you ex-English teacher modesty). Is there something that Patricia and I are missing or is it just that two designers from different parts of the world decided that “hey – a rabbit on top of a chicken. I bet that would sell.”
Update: High points go to my friend Jamie with her answer to this mystery:
“Clearly the bunny needed the chicken to get across the road. ;)”