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.

Additionally, 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."

1 Original 1887 Version
2 Origin
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Original 1887 Version

While recent generations have grown up with the version which 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 17th, 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

Though uncertain, the traits assigned to each given day probably parallel traits assigned to planets, the Sun, the Moon represented by various Gods in Norse, Roman, and Greek mythology. For example, the English word Friday stems from 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.

Adam Fox ("Oral and Literate Culture in England 1500-1700" p182) quotes the Elizabethan Thomas Nashe. Nashe recalled stories told to "yong folks" around a fire which included "tell[ing] what luck eurie one should haue 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.

[edit] Trivia

This poem was recited on Snow White, starring Kristin Kreuk, to describe the new names of the dwarves.
An episode of Star Trek is most likely named after this rhyme.
Wednesday Addams of the Addams Family is said to have been named after the phrase, "Wednesday's child is full of woe."
Musician David Gates, later of Bread, composed a song called Saturday's Child that was included on the 1960's American pop rock band The Monkees' eponymous first album.