Crosswords1 min ago
First day of each month.
8 Answers
Does anyone know where the custom of saying, "Rabbits" as the first word spoken on the first day of any month come from and why please?
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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.
There are some who believe it originated with Lewis Carroll's �Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and others who claim it derives from a German custom of pagan times when pairs of white rabbits were apparently sacrificed at the opening of months for luck.
However, this is one of these things with an air of the historic about it which it does not truly deserve. The "tradition" of saying these particular words on the first of a month for luck is, at most perhaps, about a century old, despite the idea that sacred rabbits existed in much earlier times.
Another first of the month saying is: "Pinch punch first of the month and no returns." This is accompanied by the person's pinching and punching the victim. It seems to have originated in the days when people believed in witches. Just as we throw a pinch of salt over our shoulder when we have spilt some, even today, some people claim that the �pinch' element refers to a pinch of salt. In this instance, the pinch of salt was believed to weaken the witch's powers and the follow-up punch was to drive her away. The �and no returns' element was supposed to prevent the victim responding by saying:"A kick and a flick for being so quick!" These words would also be accompanied by the appropriate actions if the first person failed to add the extra words!
There are some who believe it originated with Lewis Carroll's �Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and others who claim it derives from a German custom of pagan times when pairs of white rabbits were apparently sacrificed at the opening of months for luck.
However, this is one of these things with an air of the historic about it which it does not truly deserve. The "tradition" of saying these particular words on the first of a month for luck is, at most perhaps, about a century old, despite the idea that sacred rabbits existed in much earlier times.
Another first of the month saying is: "Pinch punch first of the month and no returns." This is accompanied by the person's pinching and punching the victim. It seems to have originated in the days when people believed in witches. Just as we throw a pinch of salt over our shoulder when we have spilt some, even today, some people claim that the �pinch' element refers to a pinch of salt. In this instance, the pinch of salt was believed to weaken the witch's powers and the follow-up punch was to drive her away. The �and no returns' element was supposed to prevent the victim responding by saying:"A kick and a flick for being so quick!" These words would also be accompanied by the appropriate actions if the first person failed to add the extra words!
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