"I hate white rabbits"

Posted by ESC on October 20, 2003

In Reply to: "I hate white rabbits" posted by Ginger on October 20, 2003

: Does anybody know why you say (or how we got started saying) "I hate white rabbits" three times--while (or NOT) hopping on one foot--to encorage the smoke to go another direction when it's in your eyes at a campfire?

Maybe there's a connection with this custom:

HARE OR RABBIT: SAYING AT CHANGE OF MONTH -- "1920 'Folklore' 319. According to several correspondents in the 'Westminster Gazette' (spring of 1919) the following belief is common in many parts of Great Britain, with local variants: To secure good luck of some kind, usually a present, one should say 'Rabbits' three times just before going to sleep on the last day of the month, and then 'Hares' three times on waking the next morning.1982 Woman c.50 (Stockton-on-Tees, Co. Durham) The first words you say for a lucky month are 'White Rabbits'. If you can remember to say that twelve times a year, you'll have a very lucky year. 1984 Woman 47 (Chichester, Sussex) If you say 'Black cats' on the last night of the month and 'White rabbits' next morning, you will get a present before the month is out." From "A Dictionary of Superstitions" Edited by Iona Opie and Moira Tatem (Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1989). Page 192.