The rest of us looked at him. Rabbit, rabbit? Umm, that would be no.

After a brief silence, somebody said, And why should we say rabbit, rabbit before we get out of bed?

Because, said Eddie, its New Years Day. Its the first day of the month. Didnt your mama ever teach you that you have to say rabbit, rabbit on the first day of each month for good luck?

That would be another no. My mother was big on folklore, but this one must have escaped her.

Of course, I immediately sensed a column topic and pressed Eddie for more information, at which point another family member, David (who works for Yahoo and knows exactly where to go in cyberspace to retrieve such information), pulled a handy-dandy gizmo from his pocket and went straight to everything we could ever want to know about saying rabbit, rabbit on the first day of the month.

Eddie was shooting straight. Zillions of people all over the world ascribe to this rabbit mantra, with slight variations.

The origins of this good luck practice are unknown, but many think it began as far back as the 1800s in England, directly tied to the idea that rabbits are lucky animals, even though, as one wit said, that rabbit foot we carry in our pocket apparently didnt bring the rabbit a whole lot of luck.

According to Wikipedia.org, here are some of the variations accompanying the rabbit, rabbit charm. This is important for all of us if were going to pull this floundering year out of a big, bad hole.

~ Being the first to say rabbit, rabbit to a person on the first of the month will bring good luck. Once someone says rabbit, rabbit to you, you cant repeat it to anyone, thus insuring your having bad luck throughout the month. You must be quick.

~ The good fortune effect is magnified on the first day of your birth month. Big rah!

~ One variation involves a bit of competition. Saying rabbit, rabbit to another person on the first of the month entitles the speaker to the luck of the listener for the duration of the month.

~ A current version allows luck to play no part. Say rabbit, rabbit to someone on the first day of the month and you win. Thats it.

~ Another variation is bunny, bunny, hop, hop, but I think thats over in Poland.

~ There are several ways to help your bad fortune if you forget, most commonly saying the word backwards  tibbaR, tibbaR  before falling asleep or saying moose, moose upon waking on day 2 of the month. Im not sure what moose has to do with anything.

~ Another variation is saying white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit as the initial words of the month before leaving the bed  and the speaker must first realign so that speakers head is positioned at the foot of the bed.

Lord knows, we could all use some good luck; however, should you hesitate to seem goofy saying rabbit, rabbit or white rabbit, white rabbit with your feet in your bed partners face, you dont have to take my word for the legitimacy of all this. Go to google.com and search for rabbit, rabbit. Its all there.