Rabbit rabbit rabbit: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Superstition pertaining to the first day of a month}}

{{About||the song by Chas and Dave|Rabbit (song)}}

'''"Rabbit rabbit rabbit"''' is a [[superstition]] found in BritainEnglish-speaking andcountries North America whereinwhere a person says or repeats the words "[[rabbit]]", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.

==Origins and history==

The exact origin of the superstition is unknown, though it was recorded in ''[[Notes and Queries]]'' as being said by children in 1909:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Roud |first2=Stephen|author-link2=Steve Roud |title=A Dictionary of English Folklore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTcdvd1iRXsC |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780192100191 |via=Google Books}} Citing ''[[Notes and Queries]]'' 10s:11 (1909), 208</ref>

{{blockquote|My two daughters are in the habit of saying "Rabbits!" on the first day of each month. The word must be spoken aloud and be the first word said in the month. It brings luck for that month. Other children, I find, use the same formula.}}

In response to this note another contributor said that his daughter believed that the outcome would be a present, and that the word must be spoken up the chimney to be most effective; another pointed out that the word ''rabbit'' was often used in expletives, and suggested that the superstition may be a survival of the ancient belief in swearing as a means of avoiding evil.<ref>{{cite book |title=Notes and Queries |url=https://archive.org/details/s10notesqueries11londuoft |series=10 |volume=11 |year=1909 |publisher=John C. Francis and J. Edward Francis |___location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/s10notesqueries11londuoft/page/208 208], 258}} Citing [https://archive.org/details/englishdialectdi05wrig ''The English Dialect Dictionary''] (1905) Vol. 5, p. 2.</ref> People continue to express curiosity about the origins of this superstition<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dendritics.com/scales/one-rabbit.asp |title=Everyone's Rabbitings |website=Dendritics Gemscales Museum |access-date=14 February 2016}}</ref> and draw upon it for inspiration in making calendars<ref>{{cite web |url=http://viewers-like-you.com/rabbit-rabbit |title=Viewers Like You: A Design Concern of Elsner and Shields |date=1 January 2015 |access-date=14 February 2016 |archive-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009213714/http://viewers-like-you.com/rabbit-rabbit |url-status=dead }}</ref> suggestive of the [[Labors of the Months]], thus linking the ''rabbit rabbit'' superstition to seasonal fertility.