First day of the month

[flirty41]

'White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits' and 'pinch, punch, first day of the month, and no return'. From where do these phrases originate, please?

[Hippy]

Before the arrival of Christianity, people in Britain believed that the hare and the cat were disguises taken by witches. As they bound about the place you might easily mistake a hare for a rabbit, so be careful not to kill bunny shaped things! In some places around Lancashire black rabbits were thought to be ancestral spirits trying to get home. White rabbits in Somerset were witches.

The incantation "White Rabbits, White Rabbits, White Rabbits" as the first utterance on the first of a month is supposed to neutralise the evil spells of the witch and bring luck and fortune during the next four weeks. In some places it is held to be necessary to incant "Black Hares, Black Hares, Black Hares" as the final utterance before sleep on the night before to ensure that the rabbit one will work the following morning. The most important morning in the calendar was New Years Day, which was until fairly recently the first of April. So the rabbit incantation was more important then than on any other day. However, you had to keep the good luck batteries charged by doing it at the start of every new month.

[Quizmonster]

The 'white rabbits' good luck chorus certainly sounds ancient, but the fact remains that it appears nowhere in English print before 1959! Yes, the reference was in the Opies' book about schoolchildrens' lore, but, if it was truly old, one would certainly expect there to have been some reference to it or use of it in earlier literature. The single word 'rabbits' did appear in the same context earlier but not before 1920 either. I suspect that this is one of these things with an air of the historic about it which it does not truly deserve.

[Hippy]

Quizzy, I had the lore orally well before 1959, and I have found reference in print in 'Encyclopedia of Superstitions' by E. & M. A. Radford, first published in 1948.

The person telling me of the superstitions knew of such stories from their youth in the latter part of the 19th century.

[Quizmonster]

Dear Hippy, I'm perfectly happy to believe that the incantation dates back to the 19th century...but no earlier. As I said, the first print reference was in 1920, so it might, just conceivably, have been around in speech for 30/40 years by then.

What I certainly query, however, is your apparent claim that it goes back to a time when the very calendar was differently structured! There is no shred of evidence for believing that, even though there may well have been sacred hares and so forth in those days. (Incidentally, surely the year 'way back then started on March 1st rather than April 1st. That's how we have 'Sept' for 7, 'Oct' for 8 etc in month names September, October etc.)

The "tradition" of saying these particular words on the first of a month for luck is, at most, just about a century old. Cheers

[flirty41]

Thank you, you two, for an interesting discussion! I didn't think my question would lead to such a debate! But does anyone know the origins of my second phrase 'pinch punch' etc? Thanks!