Before my feet hit the floor this morning—the first day of 2019 AND the first day of January—I made sure to speak these three words aloud: “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit.”
I heard about this monthly rite from the late Alabama storyteller, Katherine Tucker Windham, a woman who believed in ghosts, in the richness of tradition, and who found fun in life and afterlife. (She kept a handmade pine casket in the shed beside her house for years, using it to store crystal and china until she claimed it for herself in June 2011.)
Windham often talked about—and I’m pretty sure practiced—the tradition of starting the month with “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit,” which is purported to ensure good luck for the entire month. There are a number of versions on how to perform this ritual—some say “white rabbit,” others just say “rabbit” once or twice instead of three times; some believe it must be said before rising, others think it should be said just as their feet hit the floor. Whatever the practice (I’m obviously in the three-rabbits-before-rising camp), I like the idea that I can do something to attract good luck rather than simply ward off bad luck, so I adopted the “rabbit” habit a year or more ago.
I come from superstitious folk, which engrained in me a mild obsession to strictly follow any known rituals that may affect luck—good or bad—or cause harm to myself or others. My mother passed away a decade ago, but I still wince every time I step on a crack (though I wonder, is a crack the same as a seam?), and I cringe anytime I accidentally lay shoes on the bed. I also worry that performing these rituals poorly or forgetting them entirely can bring on bad juju, and I’ll be honest, my “rabbit” practice is not perfect…I’ve missed a few months and wondered if missing it will now bring on bad luck?
Thank goodness for my friend, Leigh, who offered an antidote: If you miss the first morning of a month, just say “tibbar, tibbar, tibbar” (“rabbit” backward) to reverse any bad karma. I’m on the hunt to figure out the exact implementation of that practice before I use it. Should I say it at the end of the first day of the month after I forget to say my morning “rabbits” or at the end of the month? I’m not positive, though this episode of “A Way with Words,” http://www.waywordradio.org/rabbit-rabbit-tibbar-tibbar/, offered a few ideas, along with a number of other traditions that I may now have to add to my superstition repertoire.
I’ll ignored the temptation of adopting new practices right now, though, because so far I’ve started the new year off well. Just a while ago, as I walked our dogs in a dripping rain, I spotted my first bird of 2019, a female cardinal.
She’s supposed to be my “theme bird” (www.birdnote.org/show/bird-year-lyanda-haupt) of the year, but she is also a symbol of hope, joy, health, rejuvenation, and celebration (as well as possessing other powers and meanings: https://animals.mom.me/meaning-red-cardinals-native-americans-9087.html). I’ll think of her as my companion for the rest of the year. She and her sister ilk are abundant here, so I’ll never be far from cardinal grace and song.
And I’ll cap it all off tonight with greens and black-eyed peas. I should have all the bases covered for the start of a successful 2019 before I lay my head down tonight to dream of rabbits and red birds.
katielamarjackson 