Rapid, Rabbit Rabbit

On By WTGIn Everyday Mindfulness, Randomness

Pixabay: Alexas_Fotos. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.I don’t consider myself superstitious. Until I am. Then I do various things to avoid jinxing myself: knock on wood; keep umbrellas closed indoors; sidestep walking beneath a ladder.

I also, on the first of a month, start the day off with the words “Rapid Rabbit.”

Talking with my sister today, she reminded me that tomorrow is “Rabbit Rabbit” day.

“Wait, did you say Rabid Rabbit?” I asked her.

“No, Rabbit Rabbit,” she replied.

“I thought it was Rapid Rabbit,” I told her.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Rabbit Rabbit,” she said. “I looked it up once online.”

Had I been doing this family custom thing wrong for decades? And, wait, this wasn’t just our family being quaintly odd?

It turns out, I had been doing it wrong.

And it wasn’t just a Goats family tradition. Wikipedia has an entry about it, with variants on the phrase and assorted potential benefits.

“Rapid Rabbit” isn’t a variant.

“Rabbit Rabbit” is, although three “Rabbits” is better.

“If you say ‘Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit’—three times, just like that—first thing in the morning on the first of the month, even before you say your prayers, you’ll get a present before the end of the month.” (Solomon in All his Glory, Robert Lynd, 1922)

Thanks to Wikipedia’s Rabbit rabbit rabbit page, I will now be doing this right, exponentially improving my life. Plus, I’m adding a new good-luck-rabbit tool to my arsenal: I’ll say “White Rabbit” to ward off campfire smoke blowing in my face. Which will also remind me of Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane.  Two-fer gift.

But for now, with a superstitious day before me, I’m preparing to start tomorrow off with “Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit.”

Unless I forget, turn to Bubba and say, “good mornin’, babe,” first.

Of course, those three words bring good fortune, too.

Any fun, quirky or unusual anti-jinx/good-luck rituals in your life? Share them below!

 

Photo source: Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay

 

25 thoughts on “Rapid, Rabbit Rabbit”

  2. I never heard of this tradition, but now that I have, I feel duty bound to say “rabbit, rabbit” tomorrow morning. Thanks for adding one more silly tradition to my arsenal of superstitions. Of course, I don’t really believe any of them, but why take chances? Hanging art last week, I went out of my way to avoid walking under a ladder and hoped no one noticed. 😜

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    1. I JUST saw this and am crackin’ up!! 🤣😂🤣😂 That’s a riot.

      Absolutely no friggin’ sorries allowed for this one. This is a gift. Thanks for posting it, Fraggle :-).

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    1. Aren’t they cute? I find so many great photos on Pixabay by Alexas_Fotos.

      Honestly, I didn’t think I was superstitious but given some of the odd-knock things I do, usually without thinking, some character in me wants to cover the bases. Thanks for noting the bunny eggs.

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  6. I learned about Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit in college from girls in my dorm. They said at midnight you had to stand on a chair and jump backward off of it while saying Rabbit x3 for the superstition to work its magic. As an older woman I’ve adapted this to: sometime during the first day of the month thinking about jumping backward off the chair whilst saying the words. So far, same result as the more complicated version. My conclusion? There’s leeway in superstitions.

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    1. I’m laughing out loud. That’s hysterical!

      I LOVE your adaptation of the process and clear-eyed assessment of outcomes. Now I feel better about missing out yesterday with the first three words (I forgot!). Because I did eventually say them, sans chair jumping.

      Thanks for your comment; made my morning.

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    1. It’s fun to find out this Rabbit-Habit is out there, in different permutations, known by some, unknown to others.

      I was just surprised to realize it existed outside the confines of our family unit. Even my cousins weren’t in on it. I may have to dig around and learn the “origins story” of how it came to be “a thing” in our family.

      We still remind each other of it!

      Thanks for sharing your version.

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      1. My friend used to post “Rabbit” on Facebook on the first of the month. I didn’t get it for a long time . . . then someone asked or I heard it somewhere else . . . oh, yeah, I think that is it! I heard it somewhere else and I said to myself, “OH! That is why he always posts ‘Rabbit’ on the first day of the month.” I think someone else on FB explained it. Interesting to know there are different versions!

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      2. I think it’s funny that I’ve had more interaction with this post than I’ve had with other posts. I haven’t checked the stats, but I love the undercurrent of interest and stories around Rabbit.

        That’s the first one I’ve heard about someone posting it to Facebook.

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  8. kimmarty

    Though my wife Antoinette claims it was always part of her family’s Scottish history, I recall learning about rabbit rabbit rabbit through another source. I was a French high school teacher. One day while standing in the hall between classes an English teacher a few doors down approached me. She was the type that spoke in codes using vocabulary words so rare that Shakespeare would have been vexed to come up with meanings.This code was meant to prompt you to ask questions, thereby pulling you into her vortex. On this day she chirped “I said my rabbits last night.” Being blind sighted by this revelation, I must of given her the look of confusion mixed with a touch of panic, just what she wanted. I asked “what rabbits?”. She lowered her chained glasses, standard apparel for women English teachers at the time, so she could look over them and examine me with pity and take in the whole breath of my ignorance. This was the same look she would use to disarm and terrify her students. To make a long story short, she told me of the entire history of rabbit rabbit rabbit, which I realized I sort of knew, but there was no stopping her half way through. Once she started a relentless dialog, it was harder to stop than a freight train on steroids. At the end I do remember her saying, “it’s good having traditions,” and added under her breath “You French should get some.” She always ended her grandiose speeches with a dig as proof of her superiority and marched haughtily back to her room. It would have been useless to come back with a cleaver retort since I didn’t want this conversation to escalate. I did think to myself of the fine French tradition to always be wary of what the English say. Besides, I had a class filing dutifully into my room.

    This rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, thing must have worked on my mind. The next last day of the month, I presented the tradition to my French classes saying that they would have good luck if they said lapin! lapin! lapin! (rabbit in French). The next day I was surprised the hit it was. From then on I did it every month for years in my classes. Kids would write it on a piece of paper and tape it to their ceilings so it would be the first thing that they would see in the morning. I did tell them that I don’t think it really counted if they did that and it was kind of like cheating. Even today, many years after I have retired, on the last day of the month I email a group of former students with a little note in French, to keep their chops up, and a reminder to say lapin! lapin! lapin!

    I don’t really remember when Antoinette and I started doing it, but we’ve been doing it for years and years. Either she remembers, or I do. I’m proud to say we’re way more successful than forgetful. In the middle of the night one of us will gleefully call out “rabbit rabbit rabbit” and I’ll always say under my breath “lapin lapin lapin.”

    Frenchy in NH.

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    1. Your post came through and I’m rolling in laughter. Never did I figure to learn so much about lapin-lore with this post. Including that the rabbit rabbit tale came down through both sides of your family. Maybe that’s why it was rabbit rabbit in your household and rapid rabbit in mine. The French intermixed with the Scottish.

      This was great to read and such fun. Welcome!

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