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Rabbit Rabbit
"Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition in some English-speaking countries where a person says "rabbit", "rabbits", or "white rabbits" upon waking on the first day of a month to ensure good luck for the rest of it. Origins and history The origin of the superstition is unknown, though it was recorded in ''Notes and Queries'' as being said by children in 1909: In response to this note, another contributor said that his daughter believed that the outcome would be a present and that the word must be spoken up the chimney to be most effective; another pointed out that the word ''rabbit'' was often used in expletives, and suggested that the superstition may be a survival of the ancient belief in swearing as a means of avoiding evil. People continue to express curiosity about the origins of this superstition and draw upon it for inspiration in making calendars suggestive of the Labors of the Months, thus linking the ''rabbit rabbit'' superstition to seasonal fertility. It appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, amulets, astrology, fortune telling, Spirit (animating force), spirits, and certain paranormal wikt: entity, entities, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events. The word ''superstition'' is also used to refer to a religion not practiced by the majority of a given society regardless of whether the prevailing religion contains alleged superstitions or to all religions by the antireligion, antireligious. Contemporary use Definitions of the term vary, but they commonly describe superstitions as irrational beliefs at odds with scientific knowledge of the world. Stuart Vyse proposes that a superstition's "presumed mechanism of action is inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Newspaper Archive
The British Newspaper Archive website provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library's Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London until 2013, and is now divided between the St Pancras and Boston Spa sites. The library has an almost complete collection of British and Irish newspapers since 1840. This is partly because of the legal deposit legislation of 1869, which required newspapers to supply a copy of each edition of a newspaper to the library. London editions of national daily and Sunday newspapers are complete back to 1801. In total, the collection consists of 660,000 bound volumes and 370,000 reels of microfilm containing tens of millions of newspapers with 52,000 titles on 45 km of shelves. After the closure of Colindale in November 2013, access to the 750 million original printed pages was maintained via an automated and climate-controlled storage fac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luck
Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to random and non-random natural and artificial processes, and that even improbable events can happen by random chance. In this view, the epithet "lucky" or "unlucky" is a descriptive label that refers to an event's positivity, negativity, or improbability. Supernatural interpretations of luck consider it to be an attribute of a person or object, or the result of a favorable or unfavorable view of a deity upon a person. These interpretations often ''prescribe'' how luckiness or unluckiness can be obtained, such as by carrying a lucky charm or offering sacrifices or prayers to a deity. Saying someone is "born lucky" may hold different meanings, depending on the interpretation: it could simply mean that they have been bor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool[s]!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically. Origins Although many theories have been proposed throughout the years, the origin of April Fools' Day is not exactly known. A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'' (1392). In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock, Chauntecleer, is tricked by a fox "Since March began, full thirty days and two," i.e. the 32nd day from 1 March, which is 1 April. However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stamping (custom)
Stamping is the act of licking one's thumb, pressing the wet thumb into the opposite palm, then striking the wet palm with the opposite fist.Cannell, Margaret, "Signs, Omens, and Portents in Nebraska Folklore" (1933). ''University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism''. 2. Stamping is usually done in response to seeing a specific subject, such as a white horse or mule. Stamping is thought to bring good luck, usually after a certain number of subjects have been stamped, typically one hundred. Origins Stamping may have originated as an imitation of the act of placing a postage stamp on a piece of mail. It may also be related to the use of a wax seal, as some recorded versions of the superstition refer to stamping a subject as "sealing" the good luck. The motion of striking the palm with a closed fist after it has been wet by the thumb is also suggestive of an exaggerated imitation of the action of using a seal. Subjects of stamping Most recorded superstitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rabbit's Foot
In some cultures, a rabbit's foot is carried as an amulet believed to bring good luck. This belief is held by people in a great number of places around the world, including Europe, Africa, Australia and North and South America. In variations of this superstition, the rabbit it came from must possess certain attributes, such as having been killed in a particular place, using a particular method, or by a person possessing particular attributes (e.g., by a cross-eyed man). It has been suggested by Benjamin Radford that the rabbit's foot could be connected to a European good luck charm called the Hand of Glory, a hand cut from a hanged man and then pickled. In North American culture The belief in North American folklore may originate in the system of folk magic known as " hoodoo". A number of strictures attached to the charm are now observed mostly in the breach, namely that it must be the left hind foot of a rabbit which was shot or otherwise captured in a cemetery. Some sources ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Hares
The three hares (or three rabbits) is a circular motif appearing in sacred sites from China , the Middle East and the churches and synagogues of Europe, in particular those of Devon, England (as the " Tinners' Rabbits"), . It is used as an architectural ornament, a religious symbol, and in other modern works of art or a logo for adornment (including tattoos), jewelry, and a coat of arms on an escutcheon. It is viewed as a puzzle, a visual challenge, and has been rendered as sculpture, drawing, and painting. The symbol features three hares or rabbits chasing each other in a circle. Like the triskelion, the triquetra, and their antecedents (e.g., the triple spiral), the symbol of the three hares has a threefold rotational symmetry. Each of the ears is shared by two hares, so that only three ears are shown. Although its meaning is apparently not explained in contemporary written sources from any of the medieval cultures where it is found, it is thought to have a range of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Herald Tribune
The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its origins as an international newspaper trace back to 1887. Sold in over 160 countries, the ''International Herald Tribune'' produced a large amount of content until it became the second incarnation of ''The International New York Times'' in 2013, 10 years after The New York Times Company became its sole owner. Early years In 1887, James Gordon Bennett Jr. created a Paris edition of his newspaper the '' New York Herald'' with offices at 49, avenue de l'Opéra. He called it the ''Paris Herald''. When Bennett Jr. died, the Herald and its Paris edition came under the control of Frank Munsey. In 1924, Munsey sold the paper to the family of Ogden Reid, owners of the '' New-York Tribune'', creating the '' New York Herald Tribune'', while t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester (born 28 September 1944) is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday (1972), Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. Winchester has written or contributed to over 30 best-selling nonfiction books, one novel, and several magazines, among them ''Condé Nast Traveler'', ''Smithsonian (magazine), Smithsonian Magazine'', and ''National Geographic (magazine), National Geographic''. Early life and education Born in London, Winchester attended several boarding schools in Dorset, including The Thomas Hardye School, Hardye's School. He spent a year hitchhiking around the United States, then in 1963 went up to St Catherine's College, Oxford, to study geology. He graduated in 1966, and found work with Falconbridge Limited, Falconbridge of Africa, a Canadian mining company. His first assignment was to work as a field geologist searching for copper deposits in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal command of Vespasian. Exeter became a religious centre in the Middle Ages. Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century, became Anglicanism, Anglican in the 16th-century English Reformation. Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, although by the First World War the city was in decline. After the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now a centre for education, business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. It is home to two of the constituent campuses of the University of Exeter: Streatham Campus, Streatham and St Luke's Campus, St Luke's. The administrative area of Exeter has the status of a non-metropolitan district under the administ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the southwest, and Tennessee to the west. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th-largest and List of U.S. states and territories by population, 9th-most populous of the List of states and territories of the United States, United States. Along with South Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast of the United States, East Coast. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the state had a population of 10,439,388. Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh is the state's List of capitals in the United States, capital and Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte is its List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous and one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. The Charl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
