White Rabbits, White Rabbits, White Rabbits

Friday August 1st 2008

‘White Rabbits, White Rabbits, White Rabbits’

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I wish you good luck on this first day of August....I have always known that it supposedly means good luck to say ‘White Rabbits’ on the first day of each month. Why or where this saying originated I do not know but like most old sayings and quotes we say them anyway.....I doubt though that it gave much luck to those poor fellows who died in the Battle of Minden in 1759. It was here that the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry formed part of a force against the French on the continent during the Seven Years War. While passing through Germany the British soldiers plucked white roses from bushes near to the battlefields as a tribute to their fallen comrades. Since that time August 1st, known as Minden Day, has been celebrated by all battalions of the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and The White Rose of Yorkshire is worn on their caps....

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Other regiments of the British Army also celebrate this day and choose also to wear roses in their caps. The colour of the rose varies depending on the regimental recruiting areas. For example the Fusiliers with part of historic Lancashire and the Princess of Wales's area includes Hampshire (both counties having red roses as insignia). So a red rose with be seen.....

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In my ww1 collection I have a photograph of a soldier of the West Yorkshire Regiment and a Christmas card affectionately signed ‘Arthur’. As both came together I like to think that the soldier is Arthur. I think that Arthur is a fitting representative of Yorkshire as August 1st is also known as Yorkshire Day. It was first celebrated as such in 1975 to promote the historic county of Yorkshire and as a "protest movement against the local re-organisation of 1974". Today is also the anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, for which a Yorkshire MP, William Wilberforce, had campaigned. So Yorkshire has three reasons in which to celebrate....

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Soldier of the West Yorkshire Regiment
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Christmas Card for the West Yorkshire Regiment
Affectionately signed ‘Arthur’

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Another celebration today is Lammas (Loaf-Mass Day), the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords. The older, Celtic name for this festival is Lughnasadh which means 'mourning for Lugh'. Lugh was an ancient name for The Sun God and so the name Lughnasadh sums up the feeling of this end of summer celebration. The Sun is on the wane, the sun's strength is dwindling and his energy has gone into the ripening corn.....sadly we have seen little of The Sun God this summer. Yet I remember days when the sun shone on fields of crops and butterflies danced to the hum of bees....

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The sun is finally shining on this Lammas morning so The Sun God must have heard me.....whatever you do this day enjoy...until next time....lol...

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"Once upon a Lammas Night

When corn rigs are bonny,

Beneath the Moon's unclouded light,

I held awhile to Annie...

The time went by with careless heed

Between the late and early,

With small persuasion she agreed

To see me through the barley...

Corn rigs and barley rigs,

Corn rigs are bonny!

I'll not forget that happy night

Among the rigs with Annie!"

- Robert Burns -

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