Monday's Child
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Monday's Child is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born. As with all nursery rhymes, there are many versions. Below is just one common form.
- Monday's child is fair of face.
- Tuesday's child is full of grace.
- Wednesday's child is full of woe.
- Thursday's child has far to go.
- Friday's child is loving and giving.
- Saturday's child works hard for a living,
- But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
- Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Some modern versions change the last line to, Is bonny and blithe and good in every way, owing to modern connotations of the word gay.
In addition, as being 'full of woe' is not a nice fate for any Wednesday born child, the rhyme is sometimes changed to read "Wednesday's child will fear no foe."
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[edit] Original 1887 version
While recent generations have grown up with the version in which, "Wednesday's child is full of woe," an early incarnation of this rhyme appeared in a multi-part fictional story in a chapter appearing in Harper's Weekly on September 17, 1887. In that version "Friday's child is full of woe." In addition to Wednesday's and Friday's children's role reversal, the fates of Thursday's and Saturday's children was also exchanged and Sunday's child is "happy and wise" instead of "blithe and good":
- Monday's child is fair of face.
- Tuesday's child is full of grace.
- Wednesday's child is loving and giving.
- Thursday's child works hard for a living,
- Friday's child is full of woe.
- Saturday's child has far to go.
- But the child that is born on Sabbath-day
- Is bonny and happy and wise and gay.
[edit] Origin
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This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007) |
Though uncertain, the traits assigned to each given day probably parallel traits assigned to planets, the Sun, and the Moon represented by various Gods in Norse, Roman, and Greek mythology. For example, the English word Friday stems from Freyja, the Norse goddess of Love, hence the notion that children born on Fridays will become 'loving and giving.' In addition, the word for Friday in many Romance languages is derived from the word 'Venus', the Roman goddess of love and beauty; other days of the week follow accordingly. There is also the likelihood an ancient rhyme had evolved over time and lines were reassigned to different days for cultural reasons, as in the case with the final rhyme for the Sabbath day being identified for Sunday instead of actual Judeo-Christian biblical scripture identifying Saturday as the Sabbath. In fact, a strict historical review of the rhyme would more correctly have the verse read:
- Sunday's child is full of grace. (Christian day of worship)
- Monday's child is fair of face. (Mon=Moon, with its 'face')
- Tuesday's child is full of woe. (Tues=Týr, Norse 'God of War')
- Wednesday's child has far to go. (Wednes=Woden 'The Wanderer')
- Thursday's child works hard for a living, (Thur=Thor, Norse god)
- Friday's child is loving and giving. (Frida=Freyja, Norse 'God of Love')
- But the child that is born on Sabbath-day
- Is bonny and happy and wise and gay.
Adam Fox quotes the Elizabethan Thomas Nashe. Nashe recalled stories told to "yong folks" around a fire which included "tell[ing] what luck eurie one should have by the day of the weeke he was borne on". Nashe thus provides evidence for fortune telling rhymes of this type circulating in Suffolk in the 1570s (Fox 2000, 182).
[edit] Trivia
- This poem was recited on Snow White, starring Kristin Kreuk, to describe the new names of the dwarves.
- "Monday's Child" is the name of a program run by WBIR-TV (the NBC affiliate in Knoxville, Tennessee). This program profiles special needs children who are up for adoption in order to help these children who are often above standard adoption age to find homes.
- Wednesday Addams of The Addams Family is said to have been named after the phrase, "Wednesday's child is full of woe." Her middle name, Friday, corresponds to the 1887 version.
- Wednesday's Child is a weekly television feature sponsored by the Freddie Mac Foundation that profiles older children who are up for adoption to try to find loving adoptive homes for them.
- Musician David Bowie included a song called Thursday's Child on his 1999 album 'hours...'.
- An episode of Judging Amy derives its title from this poem. Samantha Lightstone (a mentally challenged teenager) describes herself as Thursday's Child in the episode after having recited the rhyme (using the "Thursday's child has far to go" version). This, as one might expect, is the name of the episode.
- Thursday's Child is also the name of a novel by Sonya Hartnett.
- Thursday's Child is an international children's charity.
- The Friday's Child episode of Star Trek is most likely named after this rhyme.
- Musician David Gates, later of Bread, composed a song called Saturday's Child that was included on the 1960s' American pop rock band The Monkees' eponymous first album.
- Singer Will Young released an album named Friday's Child. The title track has a variant of the rhyme as its chorus.
- Prior Walter refers to the poem in Angels in America (Act III Scene 1)
- "Monday's Child" and "Tuesday's child" are two novels written by Louise Bagshawe
- In The Wild, Wild West episode "The Night of Migueltio's Revenge" the last two lines in the song are combined and slightly altered to 'Sunday's child is bonny and brave.' It is also implied that the third line has been changed to 'Wednesday's child is full of whoa'.
[edit] External links
[edit] Bibliography
- Fox, Adam. 2000. Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700. Oxford Studies in Social History. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198205120
