I didn’t know anyone else’s family that did the same where I grew up in North Carolina. I’ve long wondered about the origin. The belief was that it “greased you through to the next year.” As for the “rabbit” there’s a mix here. The first-words-on-the-first-day tradition she shared with me was to utter ‘Jump Up Jackrabbit’. On the morning of the first day of every month, there was a slow chorus in our house, from room to room, the word “Rabbit” was spoken one and then another until we had all been granted our month’s worth of good luck. If forgotten before getting out of bed we say “tibbar, tibbar”.
I was never able to remember to do both.I’ve always said “Rabbit, Rabbit” first thing in the morning of the 1st of the month!
My neighbor says it also.If you are going to butter my nose on my birthday, please first turn it into buttercream icing and add a few sprinkles, after all it is my birthday. We have friend who also say it. I was visiting them at their beach house which had a treacherous set of wooden stairs that lead to the ocean.
(Only 17 days ’till November 2016!
!Not sure what happened to my message, my mother told me was old saying, and they used in in WW2 as when they could expect new kits. I am a native New Englander, though by choice of work that led me away; and meeting my husband who is a mid-southerner, alas, do not live there now. 486 likes. Traditions are very important to me and my family no matter how odd they may seem to be.
Check Out Shopping Cart 0 0: Login or Sign up; Home Instagram Shop Contact Other/ToS Icy Rabbit Baller T Shirt $34.00. I have said it ever since (40+ years) and told my husband and he says it, too. I’ve been known to wake up at 4am, remember the date and shout “Rabbit Rabbit” at the top of my lungs, feel like I got something accomplished & fall back asleep with a smile. I know that the tradition was passed down from my grandmother on my father’s side and she learnt it from her Aunt who was from England. My mother also said you were supposed to do a somersault off the end of the bed, but then I think she realized the hazard that posed.Take a break and read about all of your favorite locations that made the Best of New England Hall of Fame.I first heard of rabbit rabbit in a book as a child. Mom and Grama are gone now and I am the one to keep the kids in touch with each other. Somewhere along the way, I picked up the tradition of saying “Bunny, Bunny” on the 2nd day, and “Tibbar, Tibbar” on the 3rd (“Rabbit, Rabbit” backwards). I hold if forgotten, the only way not to be cursed for the month, is when realized that you spoke prior to speaking “rabbit, rabbit” upon waking for the month is to stop dead in one’s track and to express the words loudly and without care where one is, or what one is doing. But I do believe I should honor my family and maybe this is how I do it. So to all you reading these comments, it’s August 1st, 2018, Rabbit Rabbit! Readers still enjoying and reacting to Edie’s writings. And to all, I say, Rabbit!My mom (95 years old) born in Atlanta was raised with the help of a lovely Gullah woman from SC. I may or may not say it, if I remember, but only for fun.
I’m not even joking. hence rabbit rabbit rabbit for fresh meat each month. Yes it will be reverse from how they would have seen it on the moon. We say “white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits” on the first of the month. I knew that others did it, but didn’t have all this history.
We are fine!
So, on this November 1st, I say to you, “Rabbit, rabbit”…..with my fingers crossed for good luck! Being New Years .. But thanks for the info, and I have noticed that Robin, on GMA also says it …….
I was wondering where this came from.I learned to say “White Rabbit” 3 times and I still try to remember to do it. Being from the South she had never heard of this. We would say “rabbit, rabbit” to increase our material status, to multiply our riches.I first learned of the tradition from a teacher in high school, but it seemed to relate especially to March first. Oh and something I found weird; A work colleague told me her Mum keeps a jar of loose thread. She was from a Sussex country family so I always imagined it was an ancient peasant superstition.
Also when there was a full moon you had to face the moon and turn over silver in your hand, this would usually be a sixpence or a 5p piece.It’s Rabbit Rabbit in our house.
It doesn’t mean too much to me one way or the other. I think I like the idea that everybody is lucky if they say it. I just loved the comments and I sense a mindset, outlook etc. but the entry continues to say that one reason for the word Rabbit might be that “it is jumping into the future and moving ahead with life and happiness.”I live in South Africa and for my whole life, family has said “Rabbits” on the first of the month.
I asked my English neighbor, and she was not aware of it. The origin hails from a 13’th century king, etc.)