Hello and welcome to another episode of Fabled. This month, I’m trying something new and will be releasing 20 short, fun, and fascinating episodes in a challenge I’m calling Fabled February. I’ll be attempting to share an episode every weekday this month.
Rabbit, Rabbit.
It’s unknown why or how rabbits have come to be associated with good luck. Still, folklore scholars believe that the tradition of carrying a rabbit’s foot in your pocket may have stemmed from a mix of sources but is ultimately unclear.
It’s also unknown why people began saying “rabbit, rabbit” or “bunny, bunny” for good luck. The earliest recording of doing so comes from a 1909 issue of the British journal Notes and Queries. In the issue, a parent recounted that some children said “rabbits” on the first day of the month for good luck. This would lead one to believe that perhaps the practice was widely known and spread.
The practice is mentioned again in 1935 in the British Nottingham Evening Post, which says:
“Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States, has confessed to a friend that he says, ‘Rabbits’ on the first of every month—and what is more, he would not think of omitting the utterance on any account.”
Rabbits are associated with spring and renewal, so perhaps the beginning of the month and the association with the opportunity of a new month isn’t such a far stretch.
Author Benjamin Radford suggested that a lucky rabbit’s foot could be associated with a European charm called the Hand of Glory, which is a dried or pickled hand of a hanged man. People believed having the left hand of the dead man or the hand that “did the deed,” along with a candle made of their fat, would bring the supernatural power of rendering a person motionless.
Some believe that the idea of lucky rabbits dates back to the Celts, who thought the whole rabbit was lucky because they lived in burrows. Living underground, they believed, made it possible for the rabbits to communicate with the dead.
According to folklorist Bill Ellis, rabbits were sometimes familiars. There are many tales of witches being maimed while in their familiar’s form.
It was also believed that the foot was luckier if the rabbit was killed on a grave. The more cruel the person buried, the luckier the foot. President Cleveland allegedly had a foot from a rabbit killed on Jesse James’ grave.
There are a few specifications that must be met for the foot to be lucky:
- It must be the left hindfoot.
- The rabbit must have been killed in a cemetery.
- The foot must be cut off on a Friday, even better if it’s on the 13th.
- It should be a full moon.
Many believe the tradition of carrying them came to us from African folklore, noting that rabbits have trickster-like skills. They’re quick, smart, and able to elude capture.
@fabledcollective How a rabbit’s foot gets “lucky.” ##historyfacts ##folkloreandtradition ##superstitions ##weirdhistoryfacts ##spookyvibes ##folklorechallenge
♬ Spooky – GE Music
What’s strange about all of this, despite the obvious weirdness of carrying a severed limb in our pocket, is that there’s a great deal of negative things that happen in order to have create a “lucky” object. It seems that the more bad luck vibes an item can collect, the more good luck it can bring.
So, rabbit rabbit, my friend.
Music:
Deep Relaxation Preview by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5726-deep-relaxation-preview
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Ghostpocalypse – 6 Crossing the Threshold by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
