Rabbit New Year
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Art link
Rabbit rabbit rabbit, Happy 2023!
No one knew how the tradition started. But every year, in the last hour of the last day, the elder rabbit of the dell would thump his back feet against the bark of trees, and against the cold ground. Bleary-eyed fireflies would emerge from the bark and the dirt, stretching their wings and flashing, at first weakly but with growing energy.
The youngest rabbit had the honor of holding a candle and lighting the way to the clearing in the woods. There, as the church bells in the village tolled twelve times, the rabbits held up their lanterns made of leaves and twigs, and the fireflies flew into them, glowing as one as they raised these signs of promise and hope for the new year into the sky.
And then the lanterns would fall to the ground, the fireflies would return to their winter rest, and the rabbits would slip back into their warrens and curl up to sleep till morning. As dawn broke on the first day, the children would run into the trees to try to find the fallen lanterns. It was said that finding one meant good luck for the new year.
Maybe you should go to the woods today to see if you can find one too.
Art by Nakisha VanderHoeven
