White Rabbits

Have you ever heard of the saying "White Rabbits"?

It is a two-word phrase that can either be used to greet someone (everyone!) on the first day of every new month, or it can be the first thing someone says when they wake up on those days. My mum always said it, without fail, on the first of each month and the 'tradition' soon rubbed off on me. I still say it to this day. My wife thinks I am bonkers!

However, the reference to saying "White Rabbits" goes back to at least the 1940s in war-torn Britain and, unsurprisingly it has its connotations linked to the hope of bringing the person saying it luck and good fortune. It is a belief that RAF fighter pilots and their bomber crews said it as a protective measure prior to flying their missions. Sadly, I guess for them, it didn't always work.

Yet, really, does it work? Interestingly, yes... and no. I have been saying "White Rabbits" every first day of a new month since before I was a teenager, which was long ago, around the time dinosaurs roamed the Earth so some say. And, in my many years on this planet, I've had my 'ups and downs' with good luck and bad. But, the interesting thing to me is that, I have somehow always weathered the storms of the bad times and enjoyed the good times. Was the saying to be praised for seeing me through? Who knows?!

So, is saying "White Rabbits" classed as a superstition, or a load of old mumbo jumbo? Well, it is very much set in concrete that it is a superstition, or even mumbo jumbo if you don't believe in superstitions. It's how you feel about it yourself that counts. As a for instance, whenever one of Cray Wanderers' games fell on the first day of a new month, I made sure I said it at the first opportunity when I woke up on such days. Yet calamity (and the strength of the opposition) dictated that it never always worked!

During my research into this saying, it was claimed that a book dating back to 1909 entitled "Notes and Queries" mentioned that, it was muttered by children to ward off any bad luck that was headed their way. Out of the mouths of babes...

Without wishing to alarm animal lovers here, the saying of "White Rabbits" can be linked to rabbits' feet, which are specifically supposed to bring luck. Whether or not they do is another matter, especially for the poor rabbits themselves!