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Pinch Punch 1st Day of The Month No Return White Rabbit.
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i was just wondering when/where did this saying/ritual start from ?
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As regards the "White rabbits" part of your question...
This '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.
Take your pick as to its origin.
This '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.
Take your pick as to its origin.
Re the pinch/punch element, you might find clicking here helpful.
ha ha me and my husband do this every month to each other, and have done for the last 19 years. It has become very competitive.
I won four, count 'em, FOUR months on the run!
He was disgusted!
But he got me today :-(
He tried to get me by text once, but obviously that's not allowed, so I won by default.
Everytime I win, he says, pathetically, "I'm not playing it anymore"
Exciting life, eh? *sigh*
I won four, count 'em, FOUR months on the run!
He was disgusted!
But he got me today :-(
He tried to get me by text once, but obviously that's not allowed, so I won by default.
Everytime I win, he says, pathetically, "I'm not playing it anymore"
Exciting life, eh? *sigh*
The 'White Rabbits' tradition has existed in our family in Sussex since at least the 1850's. My grandmother (born 1894) was taught it by her mother (born in the 1850's) who apparently inherited the custom from her own mother. The full version runs "Rabbits, White Rabbits; Rabbits and Hares; Hares and Hounds; White Rabbits."
Paul G
Paul G
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