Pinch and a punch for the first of the month

On the first day of each month I am reminded of A pinch and a punch for the new month – something we sisters followed diligently through our childhood years. Infact we were very competitive and serious about it - the one who woke up before the others and pinched and punched more number of people on the first day of the new month was supposed to have a better month than the others. I never bothered to find out how or why we followed the P & P, I guess one of us read about it somewhere. Interestingly my online search on it today showed up the following -

Etymology- Originating from old England times when people thought that witches existed. People thought that salt would make a witch weak, so the pinch part is pinching of the salt, and the punch part was to banish the witch. The witch would be weak from the salt so the punch was to banish her.

As a noun - Said the first day of a new month, accompanied by a pinch and a punch to the victim. With all of us four sisters in different cities we no longer have the P & P, but that’s the first thing that comes to my mind on the first of every month. I have replaced the P & P ritual with Susan Miller. On the first of each month I impatiently visit her astrology site to find out what the month has in store for me :)