Where do rabbit hand shadows come from? Well, once upon a time, I was busy working away at my desk, when I heard a bit of giggling. It seems that sometime, while I was totally clueless as to anything else, my daughters had snuck into the room and taken over the bed to watch TV. It wasn’t the first time, and they have gotten pretty good at it.
I just shook my head, and turned to go back to work. As I did, I noticed the the lamp on the desk was shining across me so that it was lighting up a bright spot on the wall. Thinking to give my girls a giggle, I said “Hey! I see a rabbit!” The girls immediately demanded to know where, so I told them that he was standing right next to me, and made the age old two finger bunny head hand shadow on the wall. I even made the ears wiggle a bit.
Needless to say, it was a major FAIL! After much eye rolling, snickering, and head shaking, the girls made it quite clear that they were less than impressed. After that, I figured that my two handed bird and fist Indian head would be a waste of time, so I went back to work.

A little while later, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned to find my oldest daughter standing there. She looked up at me, and very seriously, asked me “Daddy, do you think rabbits ever make shadows?” I thought about it for a second, and replied “You know, I think they just might. But, only when nobody is looking.” She seemed satisfied with that, and wandered off.

Well, as Sheldon would say, BAZINGA! I forgot whatever it was that I was doing, and started drawing rabbits and shadows. And that’s where rabbit hand shadows come from.