Meet the Hares

by

Selma: The hare as a mammal brings eggs, that’s completely crazy. Did he steal them from the chickens?
Siri: You’re daft, it’s symbolic, it’s about fertility.
Selma: And why are the eggs hidden?
Siri: Fertility is sex, it’s always hidden.

Selma: Der Hase als Säugetier bringt Eier, das ist doch völlig verrückt. Hat er die von den Hühnern geklaut?
Siri: Du bist doof, das ist symbolisch, es geht um Fruchtbarkeit.
Selma: Und warum werden die Eier versteckt?
Siri: Fruchtbarkeit ist Sex, der wird immer versteckt.

Dina heroically got up at 5am yesterday. Equipped as if for an expedition, she set off to track down the Easter hares. The hares on the egg-painting night shift have their breakfast break from 6am to 8am. They love romping around in the meadows and fields then. Our area is desirable for hares, as we don’t have huge fields with monocultures, which is why there are so many hares here.

Dina stand gestern heroisch um 5 Uhr auf. Ausgerüstet wie zu einer Expedition fuhr sie los, um den Osterhasen nachzuspüren. Von 6 bis 8 Uhr haben die Hasen der Eierbemalschicht ihre Frühstückspause. Da liebe sie es, auf Wiese und Feld herumzutollen. Unsere Gegend ist feinste Adresse für die Hasen, da wir keine riesigen Felder mit Monokulturen haben und deswegen sind hier viele Hasen tätig.

Norfolk is hare country. As loved ones have many names, here are some examples of what the ‘Old Boys’ call the bunnies here: Stubble Stag, The Long Lugs, The Stook Deer, Frisky Legs, The Skipper, The Lurk und many more.

Norfolk ist Hasenland und da Geliebtes viele Name hat, hier einige Beispiele wie die ‘Old Boys’ die Hasen hier nennen: Stubble Stag, The Long Lugs, The Stook Deer, Frisky Legs, The Skipper, The Lurk und einige mehr.

Time for a wash

Hiding Easter eggs and letting children look for them only came about with the rise of the toy and confectionery industry, culminating in the classic and iconic golden chocolate hare from Lindt with a bell around its neck, a legendary rise from an animal considered unclean by Jews and Christians to the golden Easter icon.

Ostereier zu verstecken und Kinder sie suchen zu lassen, kam erst mit Erstarken der Spielwaren- und Süßwaren-Industrie auf und gipfelt im klassischen wie kultig goldenen Schokoladenhasen von Lindt mit Glöckchen um dem Hals, ein sagenhafter Aufstieg von einem bei Juden und Christen als unrein betrachteten Tiers zur goldenen Oster-Ikone.

Hares sleep, rest and give birth in forms on the field

After all, the hare became world-famous thanks to Dürer’s mega-realistic portrait of him. However, the masterpiece, completed in 1502, could not escape being kitsched up as a wall decoration in bland rooms.

Der Hase hat es immerhin zu einer Weltberühmtheit gebracht durch sein mega-realistisches Portrait von Dürer. Das 1502 beendete Meisterwerk konnte allerdings nicht der Verkitschung als Wandschmuck biederer Zimmer entgehen.

We wish you a sunny bunny time

Wir wünsche euch sonnige Osterferien.


The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

.

© text and illustrations, Hanne Siebers & Klausbernd Vollmar, Cley next the Sea 2024

152 thoughts

    • Liebe Uschi,

      Siri 🙂 und 🙂 Selma sind entschuldigt, denn in der Feenschule beginnt nach altdeutscher Sitte das Schuljahr mit den Osterferien. Da gibt es auch die Zeugnisse. So mussten sie vor Zeugnisvergabe noch einen guten Eindruck schinden, was viel zu lernen hieß. Ich tue so, als ob es mir nicht so wichtig wäre, ob sie die Besten wären, sie meinen, ich würde das unbewusst ausstrahlen. Naja, ich begrüße das sehr, wenn die beiden richtig gut sind.
      Jetzt sind sie mit anderem ständig beschäftigt, nämlich für Dina Feld und Wald auszuspähen, um gute Plätze zum Fotografieren zu finden. Als Feen können sie aus der Luft die Hecken besser auskundschaften.

      Mit lieben Grüßen nach Frankfurt
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. My dear friends, I believe Dina-Hanne is totally hare-smitten now. Fabulous photos! I’m looking forward to seeing lots more from the fields of Norfolk in the near future.
    I had to LOL as I read the opening. Siri and Selma are at their best when they are cheeky. 😉
    Well done for capturing such a fast running animal. I see them on the fields where I live too, but they are always far away and mostly on the other side and when I try to approach them, they are gone. Which brings me to a saying in Swedish, and I believe in English too: to ‘kiss the hare’s foot’, meaning ‘to be late’, alludes to the hare’s great speed and the notion that, if you hesitate, it will have gone and all that will be left is a footprint.
    Kram
    Annalena Xx

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply

    • Our dear friend,

      we love Siri 🙂 and 🙂 Selma being cheeky may be too much, they are often astonishing cleverly being cheeky.

      Hanne-Dina has now become a hare whisperer. When I dream she is out lying on a sheet under a hedge photographing hares. I am happy that I am not a wildlife photographer. 
      We didn’t know the saying ‘to kiss the hare’s foot’. We love such sayings.

      All is well here and we will vanish in our sauna now.

      KRAM
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  13. FABULOUS post and photos, well done Fab Four!
    The hares look so cute, have such pretty faces and noses. I wonder where the expression hare-lip comes from.
    I’m holidaying with friends in the Norwegian mountains. The situations on the roads are quite horrendous with long queues everywhere so I’m really happy I have been invited to stay another week.
    Sending you snowy greetings from Hafjellet.
    God påske, Fab Four!
    Klem
    Per Magnus xx

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Per Magnus,

      we have a cosy Easter at home. Working a little in our garden, listen to audio-books. I just listen to Ransmayr’s ‘Cox: or the Course of Time’. I listen to the German original read by the author. This is magic, a little bit like 1001-Nights. Ransmayer reads it perfectly. Do you know ‘Terrors of Ice and Darkness’? That’s another novel by him, I really like and I am sure, you would love it as well.

      We wish you a great holiday in the mountains, finest snow and sunshine.

      And GREAT that you like our post.
      KLEM 🤗 🤗
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

    • Dear Jude

      our cheeky girls got their chocolate eggs, at them nearly all already and are happy.
      Thanks for liking Hanne’s photos.

      Keep well
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dankeschön, lieber Jürgen

      mit ganz lieben Grüßen zurück an den Niederrhein.

      Wir treiben es gemütlich, werkeln ein wenig im Garten und hören ein faszinierendes Hörbuch, ein tolles Buch und atemberaubend gut gelesen. Ransmayr ‘Cox oder der Lauf der Zeit’ vom Autor selbst gelesen. Naja dann kochen wir schön und waren in unserer Sauna, also alles rundum angenehm.
      Wir hoffen, ihr habt es auch fein.

      Herzliche Grüße
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Dina – fabulous photography collection. My sister, Sarah, and I were looking into the origin of the Easter Bunny. We read that the Easter Bunny originated from German folklore, where it was first mentioned in the 16th century. The bunny symbolizes fertility and new life, fitting well with the theme of Easter as a celebration of rebirth and renewal. German immigrants brought the tradition of the Easter Bunny to America in the 1700s, where it became popularized and integrated into Easter celebrations. When we read that, Sarah suggested that I contact you, Klausbernd to see if this was correct.

    I recall, as a child, being on an Easter Egg hunt with my siblings and cousins. We all scrambled to get the most chocolate eggs, only to find, to our chagrin, that my grandparents gathered us together to place all our chocolate eggs together and divide them equally. I think that was my introduction socialism LOL!!!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Rebecca

      actually, to celebrate Easter goes mostly back to Ostara or Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess representing spring. The Order of Wicca celebrates the festival of Ostara until now. To paint the eggs goes probably back to traditions of the eastern mountains in Easter Germany and later Bavaria. Ostara was celebrated with red eggs and the monochrome red egg became over the times the beautifully painted picture egg.

      You made us smile with your introduction to socialism. It has worked, we suppose.
      Even if I didn’t really liked chocolate I always wanted find the highest number of eggs. The will to have …

      Lots of love from us all to you all
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Gorgeous images of the hares Hanne and thank you for getting up so early to photograph them! Wishing you all a very happy Easter too! 💛 xxx

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Dear Xenia

      Oh dear, it needs quite a discipline to get up that early. And it needs patients and the right standpoint with wind into one’s face and camouflage.
      Hanne-Dina likes it as much as the work with editing afterwards.

      Thanks for your good wishes. Keep well
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, dear Joe

      we had a cosy Easter at home with fine food and drink, reading, walking and doing just what we liked. Marvellous!

      We hope you and your family had a happy Easter too
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, dear Anne.

      Symbolism changes with times and it’s often complex. One symbol can have a positive as well as a negative side. Semantics is only partly logic.

      Have a happy week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

    • Dear Stella

      thank you very much.
      We have had a happy Easter time, nice weather, good food and drink, sauna, and interesting books.

      Wishing you all the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Liebe Fab Four,

    dankeschön für diesen feinen Beitrag zu Ostern mit den reizvollen Aufnahmen und Erläuterungen. Auf dem Spazierweg zum mittäglichen Osterlamm trafen wir heute keine Hasen an. Wiederum legten sich einige Gänse in die üppig blühenden Gänseblumenwiesen.

    Aus Nürnberg, wo es in Mundart heißt: “Wou die Hasen Hoosn und die Hosen Huusn haaßn”, wünscht frohe Ostern mit herzlichen Grüßen Euer Bernd

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Guten Morgen, lieber Bernd,

      nun ist Ostern wieder vorbei. Witzig, der Spruch in Nürnberger Mundart.
      Danke, dass dir unsere Post gefällt.

      Vom sonnigen Meer liebe Grüße
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks a lot, dear John.
      We got a whole list of Norfolk-names for the hare in a book about the language here.

      All the best
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Like

  33. Tolle Aufnahmen von den Hasen aus dem Hasenland. Das schweizerische Mittelland ist leider kein Hasenland mehr, zu intensive und lebensfeindliche Landwirtschaft, zu viele neue Bauten. Es gibt sie nur noch in kleinen Naturgebieten.
    Euch frohe und heitere Tage. Ernst

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Guten Morgen, lieber Ernst,

      wir haben hier viele kleine offene Felder und viele Hecken, genau das, was Hasen lieben.

      Vielen Dank für deinen Kommentar.
      Mit liebe Grüßen vom sonnigen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Liebe Barbara,

      Danke, wir hatten schöne Osterfeiertage. Es war sonnig und warm, zumindest nachmittags, und wir arbeiteten ein wenig im Garten, gingen in die Sauna, lassen viel und machten es uns rundum gemütlich.

      Mit lieben Grüßen vom sonnigen Meer
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks, dear Ute.
      We had a cosy time at home with reading, walking, going in our sauna and cooking together.
      We hope your Easter was easy and happy too.

      Wishing you a wonderful week
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  46. I’ve always regarded the Lindt chocolates as rabbits – I stand corrected! And, yes, the grandchildren had to search for their eggs and hares!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Dear Paddy,

      so you had a fine Easter as it has to be with children searching eggs and hares.

      Lindt calls them ‘Bunnies’. ‘Bunny’ is colloquial for hare and rabbit at least as most German speakers use that word. We speak of ‘Osterhase’ (Easter Hare) as the symbol of Easter and Lindt’s creation is called by most people we know ‘Osterhase’ – a hare.

      Thanks and cheers
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  51. Pingback: Meet the Hares – Rich Minds Empire

    • Thank you very much, dear Peter.

      Tomorrow Dina will go stalking the hares again. The Easter bunnies having their holidays now after delivering all the chocolate eggs but the other hares are still around.

      We wish you a happy weekend
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  54. Pingback: Meet the Hares – wordpress.blog/jameskedze

  55. One of my blog readers has two children, and they’ve brought a rabbit into their life. I’m going to share this with them; they’ll enjoy seeing the hares (somewhat different from their bunny) and probably will appreciate the information, too. Your hares remind me of our jackrabbits: large, long legged creatures who are famous for sitting in the shade of west Texas fenceposts where trees aren’t available.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Linda

      rabbits and hares are different animals. Hares are bigger and leggier and they have longer ears. You call them ‘jackrabbits’. Like in Texas, they are sitting here in the shade of the hedges or running across open fields. Our landscape inland is dominated by many hedges bordering small fields. Ideal for hares.

      Have a happy Sunday
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  56. My dear friends, thank you for introducing me to Albrecht Dürer’s “Young Hare”. I did not know of this portrait. How he was able to create an image with such clarity and precision is truly remarkable. I know that we call the hare “young” but it seems to me that the level of detail in the painting allows the hare to be recognized as a mature field hare. I want to explore Dürer’s artwork in more detail in the coming months. Thank you for your amazing posts that give me much to consider. Dina – you are a brilliant artist/photographer. Sending much love and many hugs to my dear friends, The Fab Four of Cley.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Rebecca,

      we love Albrecht Dürer; his work is finest northern Renaissance art. He was a brilliant printmaker and painter as well. Detail and symbolism is his trademark. By the way, Dürer was one of the first artists who were clever in marketing his art and his name as a brand. He was at the right place in Nürnberg, a rich town ruled by the merchants, like Florence. – Anyway, we like his art which is detailed and simple too.

      We just came back from having a look out for hares driving through a land of hedges in the early morning. They are active between 6 and 8 in the morning – a pity that they can’t sleep longer.

      Thanks for you kind words 🙏 🙏
      With love and hugs to you all in Vancouver
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Rebecca

      we like to play with facts and meanings and looking for the same expression of picture and text.

      With love ❤ from the sunny sea and the home of the church mice
      The Fab Four of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  57. It’s great fun seeing your hares, which are leggier and have longer ears than the ones living on our island. Durer’s hare has always been a favorite, along with his Great Piece of Turf.

    Happy Spring! Too late for Easter but Spring keeps coming. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Lynn,

      we are Dürer-Fans as well. “The Young Hare” and “Great Piece of Turf” combine detail with simplicity. Dürer does this in most of his pictures except in the highly symbolic ones like his “Melancholia”.

      Our hares are European Wild Hares. Hares and rabbits/bunnies belong to the same family of Leporidae.

      We wish you a beautiful spring
      The Fab For of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  58. Great opening photo to accompany the conversation of Siri and Selma :-) This started my morning off perfectly, wondering about the perfect logic of “And why are the eggs hidden?… Fertility is sex, it’s always hidden.” And the depth-of-field of the photo adds to the mood. This post, the writing and description of the names, and the photos remind me of one of my favorite books as a kid, Watership Down, by Richard Adams. It looks like you all had an excellent Easter ~ I wish you a wonderful day!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Dear Randall,

      we had a cosy Easter at home we enjoyed.

      We read ‘Watership Down’ as well as many of our generation. We see this, as we get regularly donated copies of this classic. Together with ‘The Eagle has Landed’ (it’s set at our church by Higgins) it’s the most donated title to our book stall.
      We read it and what we have read influences us, we can’t help it. But it’s rather unconscious therefore it works well.

      We wish you a wonderful rest of the week
      The Fab For of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  60. Photographs are marvellous! “Norfolk is hare-country” good! Ich bin immer leicht erbost, wenn Leute den Unterschied zwischen Hasen und Kaninchen nicht kennen! War mal auf einer Wiese bei Elmshorn nur einen Meter von der Hasensasse entfernt – und hab den Hasen erst im Weglaufen gesehen! I love hares!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Besonders im amerikanischen Umgangsenglisch verwischt sich der Unterschied, da dort Hase wie Kaninchen bunnies sind.
      Auch unsere Hasen sind bestens getarnt, man sieht sie oft erst, wenn sie sich bewegen.

      We love hares as well ❤
      Danke fürs Kommentieren.
      Wir wünschen noch einen schönen Tag
      The Fab For of Cley
      🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  64. I so enjoyed Dina’s photos of the hares, thank you. Your hares are very different from ours in No. Calif., with long hair and red inner ears. I loved seeing all the different postures and the close-up of the eyes, and especially the one of the hare laying down flat. I appreciate what it must’ve taken–getting up at dawn, hauling all the equipment, finding the hares, being quiet in their presence–to achieve these beautiful photos. Fun Easter post, Fab Four.

    Like

    Reply

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