"Monday's Child" is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as

nursery rhymes A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fro ...

for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future from their day of birth and to help young children remember the seven days of the week. As with many such rhymes, there are several variants. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

number of 19526.

Lyrics

The following is a common modern version:

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 that is born on Sabbath day, Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.Iona Opie and Peter Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), pp. 364–5.

Origins

This rhyme was first recorded in A. E. Bray's ''Traditions of Devonshire'' (Volume II, pp. 287–288) in 1836 and was later collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-19th century, varying the final lines to "The child that's born on Christmas Day/ Is fair and wise, good and gay." Later still, another alternative is recorded: "The child of Sunday and Christmas Day,/ Is good and fair, and wise and gay." The tradition of fortune telling by days of birth is much older.

Thomas Nashe Thomas Nashe (also Nash; baptised 30 November 1567 – c. 1601) was an English Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer. He is known for his novel '' The Unfortunate Traveller'', his pamphlets including '' Pierce P ...

recalled stories told to children in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in the 1570s which included "what luck eurie 'every''one should have by the day of the weeke he was borne on". There was also considerable variation and debate about the exact attributes of each day and even over the days. Unlike modern versions in which "Wednesday's child is full of woe", an earlier incarnation of the rhyme appeared in a multi-part fictional story in a chapter appearing in ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

'' on September 17, 1887, in which "Friday's child is full of woe", perhaps reflecting traditional superstitions associated with bad luck on Friday – as many Christians associated Friday with the Crucifixion. The fates of Thursday's and Saturday's children were also exchanged and Sunday's child is "happy and wise" instead of "blithe and good".

Other versions

A more concise variant is recorded as Born on Monday, fair in the face, Born on Tuesday full of God's grace, Born on Wednesday, sour and sad, Born on Thursday, merry and glad, Born on Friday, worthily given, Born on Saturday, work hard for your living, Born on Sunday, you will never know want. Yet another prediction begins the list on a Sunday, rather than ending on that day: Sunday's child is full of grace, Monday's child is full in the face, Tuesday's child is solemn and sad, Wednesday's child is merry and glad, Thursday's child is inclined to thieving, Friday's child is free in giving, And Saturday's child works hard for his living. Unrhymed traditions from North-East England were also reported in the 19th century: :If a man-child was born on a Sunday it was believed that he would live without anxiety and be handsome. If born on a Monday he was certain to be killed. Those born on a Tuesday grew up sinful and perverse, while those born on a Wednesday were waspish in temper. A child born on Thursday, however, was sure to be of a peaceful and easy disposition, though averse to women. Friday was supposed to be the most unlucky day of all, it being prophesied that a child born on this day would grow up to be silly, crafty, a thief, and a coward, and that he would not live longer than mid-age. If born on a Saturday, his deeds would be renowned : he would live to be an alderman, many things would happen to him, and he would live long.

Legacy

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's novel '' Ulysses'', brothel worker Zoe Higgins quotes the line about Thursday's child to Stephen Dedalus upon learning he was born on a Thursday, the same weekday on which the novel is set. The whole rhyme was later included by

John Rutter Sir John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, R ...

for

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

choir in the collection '' Five Childhood Lyrics'', first published in 1974.A performance on YouTube
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References

External links