Weird TraditionsTalking with a friend yesterday about school dinners, she suddenly said, "We had to march into the dining room behind the School Band... except on Thursdays." Since all of us were now staring, she qualified this with, "...on Thursdays there was no wind section. It was a tradition."
What weird stuff have you been made to do "because it's a tradition."
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chthonic, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:11)
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White rabbitsThanks for reminding me, kiwanotree - my mum passed the same thing on to me, but I must have slowly stopped doing it. I wonder if that's when things started going downhill...
As we did it, you had to say "rabbit" first thing on the 1st of any month with an "r" in it; if there were two (i.e. February) you has to say "white rabbit". What happened if you failed was left unsaid, in a curiously sinister way...
Just found this (whatever did we do before Google?):
"A luck-bringing custom found all over Great Britain is to say 'Rabbits' or 'White Rabbits' once or three times on the first day of the month. It must be said early in the morning, before any other word has been uttered, otherwise the charm loses its force. In some districts it is considered necessary to say 'Hares' or 'Black Rabbits' when going to bed on the night before, as well as 'Rabbits' or White Rabbits' in the morning. If, however, the speaker becomes muddled and says 'Black Rabbits' on rising, bad luck will follow. The looked-for result of all this is variously given as general good luck during the ensuing four weeks, or the receipt of a gift within a few days." From the "Encyclopedia of Superstitions" by E. and M.A. Radford, edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. First published in 1948.
(, Thu 28 Jul 2005, 18:40, Reply)
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