It's the first day of the month, so hopefully when you rolled out of bed, you checked the calendar and declared, "rabbit, rabbit" before you even said good morning to the dog.

Superstition has it that if those are the first words you say on the first day of the month, you'll have good luck for 30 days.

There's a little uncertainty about where the superstition comes from, but public radio host and word-lover Martha Barnette told NPR that rabbits have been associated with luck for more than 2,000 years. (That's why we included the zen video of rabbits above.) But it's only since the 1900s that there have been written references to blurting out "rabbit, rabbit" to beckon good fortune on the first of the month.

The practice likely made its way from the United Kingdom to the United States with several variations along the way. In the U.K., people often say "white rabbits;" President Franklin Delano Roosevelt not only carried around a rabbit's foot for luck, he also reportedly said "rabbit, rabbit" first thing on the first day of the month, also for luck.

If you've messed up today and didn't utter the words, don't worry. You don't have to wait until next month for some good fortune. Say "black rabbit" right before you go to sleep or try "tibbar, tibbar." (That's rabbit backwards, of course.)

And may fortune smile upon you.