Part of a Christmas rhyme I learned and recited as a kid went like this:
"Christmastime is coming,
the goose is getting fat.
Please put a penny
in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
a ha'penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
God Bless you!"
The "ha'penny" (pronounced "hay penny") is short for the British half
penny. Aunty Margaret told me that when Great Britain went to the
decimal system in 1969, they stopped striking many of the traditional
coins, including the half pennies and the "lucky" sixpence.
When I was married in 1984, I had saved a sixpence to tuck into my shoe as
British brides have traditionally done for generations but it was minted before '84.
Yup. There's a rhyme for that, too. You've heard most of it before:
"Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue...
and a lucky sixpence for your shoe."
I recently came across an artist who creates pendants from coins. I inquired
whether she might have a sixpence from the year I was born, as well as a
British half penny from the year Handsome was born. Because they stopped
minting these coins prior to our marriage, there is no sixpence for that year.
I was tickled to find out that she did have both of our birth years in her stock.
My pendants arrived yesterday and I couldn't be happier with them! Now, I
have a choice. If I'm in the mood to wear silver, I'll wear the sixpence. The
half penny has a coppery tone, so I can wear that with my gold jewelry.
I've already taken the sixpence off the leather necklace and created something
different for it. I'll share that with you another time. For now, not only do I
have my lucky sixpence, but I also have a ha'penny...and that will certainly do!
