The presence of hares in sacred and mythological contexts in Latin America is somewhat confusing and confused. One of the earliest interpreters of Mesoamerican culture, Bernardino de Sahagún, thought that the Mexican derived their very name from the god Mexitli or Mecitli, and that Mecitli means 'hare (citli) of the agave (metl).' Sahagún, a Franciscan missionary, arrived in Mexico less than a decade after the conquest of 1521, and it's possible that his interpretation was influenced by Christian animal symbolism. Modern scholars, at any rate, suggest as translations for Mexico 'Place of the Navel of the Moon' or 'Place of the Navel of the Agave.' Both hares and rabbits are associated with the moon in Mayan and Aztec iconography – no doubt because of the resemblance of the dark patches or maria of the moon to a lagomorph – but little clear distinction seems to have been made between the symbolic valences of the two creatures.
– Simon Carnell
p. 79
"Dreaming of Mexico and Dead Hare" by Suzy O'Mullane.
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