한국국제교류재단

ASEAN ZOO

The Zodiac Rabbit: A Gentle Animal that Symbolizes Cleverness and Abundance

It’s 2023, the Year of the Rabbit. The fourth member of the Chinese zodiac’s twelve animals, the rabbit lives throughout the Korean Peninsula, and often symbolizes happiness and abundance for its prolific breeding tendencies.
It is a culturally familiar animal in Korea, featured innumerous idioms such as “children as adorable as rabbits”and “trying to win both rabbits will end up losing all.” The Jade Rabbit that lives on the moon is a famous legend of Mid-Autumn Festival(Chuseok, in Korea), representing generosity during the harvest season.Korea also has many folk tales and fables starring rabbits. In Sugungga and The Rabbit and the Tiger, rabbits appear as cunning animals. In The Rabbit and the Tiger, the rabbit uses his quick wits to trick the larger and more powerful tiger, much to readers’ delight. In fables, at least, the small herbivore isn’t just a weak animal that runs away from carnivores in fear, but overcomes difficulties with an agile body and a clever mind.
On behalf of the powerless, the rabbit outsmarts and defeats the powerful with its craftiness, providing us with a sense of catharsis. Let us take a lesson from the rabbits of legend to flexibly and intelligently overcome life’s hurdles and, hopefully, find abundance in 2023.

※ ‌Starting with the February issue of the ASEAN Culture House Monthly, we plan to cover animals that symbolize ASEAN countries. Please keep an eye out for the upcoming series.