Saturday, April 01, 2006
RABBIT!!
It's an old custom that saying "Rabbit" on the first day of the month brings luck. Double luck if it happens to be your birth month - which this is!
In my family, we have a variation where being the first to say "Rabbit" to another person brings you "good luck". Apparently, we're not the only ones.
It has been the custom in my family, for as long as I remember, for family members to greet one another on the first day of each month by saying "Rabbit Rabbit!" To say 'greet one another,' however, doesn't quite describe the custom. There is something like a contest as to who can say it first.
"Rabbit Rabbit!" can only be said once between each pair of relatives, and only on the first day of the month, and it goes only in one direction: If I say "Rabbit Rabbit!" to my brother, he cannot say it back to me; instead, he can only say something like "You got me (or 'You Rabbit Rabbited me'), but I'll get you next month." "Rabbit Rabbit!" does not have to be spoken, but can be written in a letter (lately in an email letter) or left on a phone answering machine.
We do not do this for a particular reason. The custom does not bring good luck or forefend bad; it has no ostensible purpose or utility whatever. It does of course fulfill the social function of keeping various family members in touch, but that's not why we do it. We always do it simply because we've always done it.
And because it's great fun.
In my family, we have a variation where being the first to say "Rabbit" to another person brings you "good luck". Apparently, we're not the only ones.
It has been the custom in my family, for as long as I remember, for family members to greet one another on the first day of each month by saying "Rabbit Rabbit!" To say 'greet one another,' however, doesn't quite describe the custom. There is something like a contest as to who can say it first.
"Rabbit Rabbit!" can only be said once between each pair of relatives, and only on the first day of the month, and it goes only in one direction: If I say "Rabbit Rabbit!" to my brother, he cannot say it back to me; instead, he can only say something like "You got me (or 'You Rabbit Rabbited me'), but I'll get you next month." "Rabbit Rabbit!" does not have to be spoken, but can be written in a letter (lately in an email letter) or left on a phone answering machine.
We do not do this for a particular reason. The custom does not bring good luck or forefend bad; it has no ostensible purpose or utility whatever. It does of course fulfill the social function of keeping various family members in touch, but that's not why we do it. We always do it simply because we've always done it.
And because it's great fun.
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You are quite welcome, but I must disagree that posting a picture of a rabbit gives you any luck. That's the cheap way out involving no creativity whatsoever. We can't allow that in this family.
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