Season 2, Episode 2: Monday's Child

In this episode of the A Tisket-Tasket podcast, host Gina delves into the history and significance of the nursery rhyme "Monday's Child." Exploring its origins and superstitious elements, Gina discusses how the rhyme, collected by John Orchard Halliwell in 1838, serves as both an educational tool for children to learn the days of the week and a predictor of a child's fortune based on their birth day. The episode also touches upon cultural references in literature, including works by P. L. Travers, Charles Addams, Margaret Atwood, and James Joyce. Additionally, three musical versions from various time periods are featured, adding a melodic touch to this exploration of the enduring charm of nursery rhymes. Tune in for a delightful journey into the whimsical world of "Monday's Child." Email Gina at info@atiskettasketpodcast.com or visit her website at atiskettasketpodcast.com. #NurseryRhymes #MondayChild #PodcastEpisode #ChildrensLiterature #HistoricalRhymes #Superstitions #MusicalVersions #FolkloreHistory

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the A Tisket-Tasket podcast! I’m your host, Gina, and today we will be kicking off January 2024 with nursery rhymes about babies and children. Of course, there are many rhymes that focus on this topic, but I wanted to spend the month talking about rhymes that either mention babies directly or give portents to how a baby will grow. That brings me to this week’s episode, “Monday’s Child.” As always, before we get started, I encourage you to check out my website and blog to see what references I use and how you can contribute to my work. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and review wherever you listen to podcasts. Now, let’s get started.

Lyrics

To refresh your memory, here is one of the modern versions of Monday’s Child, collected by John Orchard Halliwell.

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. And the child born on Sunday Is bonny, blithe, good, and gay.

History

Monday’s Child is a simple rhyme that has a dual purpose. One, it teaches young children the seven days of the week. It also is supposed to tell the fortune or character of the child depending on whatever day of the week he or she was born. Monday’s Child has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19,526.

John Orchard Halliwell first collected this nursery rhyme in 1838, published in A. E. Bray’s "Traditions of Devonshire Vol. II." However, like many of the rhymes I talk about on this podcast, it is much older than the first published collection. The Elizabethan playwright, Thomas Nashe (1567-1601), most famed for his "The Unfortunate Traveler" and "Pierce Penniless," recalled this popular ditty from his childhood in the 1570s in Suffolk, stating the line “what luck everyone should have by the day of the week he was born on.”

Harper’s Weekly Magazine, a New York political publication that ran from 1857 until 1916, ran an article about the rhyme in September 1887, discussing its origins. Since, luckily, all of Harper’s Weekly Magazine’s have been digitized, I looked up the edition quite easily and then immediately got sucked into the vortex of getting sidetracked reading about all sorts of other amusing things. Nevertheless, Harper’s has an article following a young man called “Tom Barley” in his quest to better himself. Part of this education was being taught to read about a scholarly, pious, and superstitious woman named Emelia Jane. Emelia Jane apparently had superstitious musings all over her house, which she taught to Tom. One of which was Monday’s Child. Another weekly ditty was, quote, “a magic formula, which Tom soon learned by heart:”

Cut your nails on Monday, cut them for wealth. Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for health. Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news. Cut them on Thursday, for a new pair of shoes. Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow. Cut them on Saturday, see sweetheart tomorrow. Cut them on Sunday, cut them for evil: The whole of the week you’ll be ruled by the —.”

I know that’s not Monday’s Child, but I just had to jump in and share another fun rhyme for the week. In any case, this article continues to talk about Emelia Jones' fascination with superstitions and fortune telling. I wish I could share with you how the story ended, but it appears to be a serial piece following a group of society figures. In any case, here is a great example of Monday’s Child appearing in the United States in the late 19th century as not only a nursery rhyme but also as a bit of fun superstition.

The rhyme has been quoted in popular television and literature since then as well. In one of P. L. Travers’ popular Mary Poppins series, written between 1934-1988, the rhyme is referenced in Mary Poppins Comes Back in 1935. Charles Addams, famed cartoonist of the Addams Family, supposedly named Wednesday from this rhyme. Author Margaret Atwood’s "The Testaments" mentions the poem, specifically Wednesday and Thursday's child. James Joyce’s "Ulysses" references the poem, which revolves around Thursday. And in the children’s book "Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf" (1955), written by Catherine Storr, the two main characters argue about Wolf’s version of the rhyme, which talks about how tasty children are depending on what day of the week they are born.

Circling back to the superstitious nature of this rhyme, in his collection 1968 “Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: A Sequel to The Nursery Rhymes of England,” John Orchard Halliwell discusses the popular nature of these types of rhymes. He writes: “Although the spread of education has doubtlessly weakened in an extraordinary degree the hold which superstition formerly maintained on the mind of the public, yet vestiges of the more innocent portions of the superstitious belief are still in considerable repute amongst the lower orders and may be found in all their force in many of the rural districts. It may be a question of how far a complete eradication of these would benefit the cause of religion and morality, treason though it be in these times to doubt the efficacy of argumentative education. But all of us cannot be philosophers; and need we reprove a pretty village maiden for plucking the even-ash or four-leaved clover? The selfish tendencies of the age, in their opposition to every action that partakes of poetry or romantic belief, will effect their mission without the aid of the cynic.”

Okay, this is Gina going off script a bit. Reading Halliwell always makes me laugh uproariously, and I imagine we could constantly butt heads if we had ever met in person. There is something so ridiculous and pompous about the way he talks about these things. Here is a man who is studying stories for children, but he always makes it seem like he is above it all and seemingly is granting the lowly peons the go-ahead to believe in such silly things like picking a four-leaf clover. Nevertheless, Halliwell’s work is instrumental in my line of work, that is rambling weekly about nursery rhymes, and of course, I had to share what he had to say on it. Halliwell also talks about superstitions in terms of religion as well. There are conflicting reports that he changed the lyrics to “Monday’s Child” by changing Sunday to “Sabbath-day,” which you will hear in the musical versions that I’ve picked for this week. However, in Popular Rhymes, from which I just read, Halliwell changes the lyrics to “Saturday’s child works hard for its living; And a child that’s born on Christmas day / Is fair and wise and good and gay.” Further, Halliwell talks about this poem in particular, he mentions that Friday’s child may have originally been something negative as the association with Friday being bad luck among Christians due to its connotations with the crucifixion. I take this idea with a grain of salt as Halliwell had been known to attribute anything to religion rather than what the folklore suggested. I really wish he had more to say on this rhyme in particular. The previous entry he talked about was the nail-cutting rhyme that I referenced earlier. He had a lot to say about that and the state of one’s nails, but surprisingly little about the days of one’s birth.

Now, let’s talk about some of the musical versions from history.

Music Versions

One of the versions we will listen to today is a 1986 version from The Jordan Evan Band from their album “Your Birthday Party: Celebrate Your Birthday 14 Languages.” Because of copyright laws, I can only play 20 or so seconds of the song, but let’s take a listen.

 [Insert version]

The second version we’ll listen to is from the Youtube Channel “Songs for Children” published in 2023, produced, composed, and sung by Amy Kakoura. Her link to the video will be under my reference section. But, let’s go ahead and listen to her full version of the song: 

[Insert version]

The last version is from another Youtube channel, this one from Youtube user “David,” who posts what appears to be a 1970s cartoon version. It kind of reminds me of the art style of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Go ahead and follow the link from my reference page to watch the short animation, but let’s listen to it now. 

[Insert Version]

And if you were listening closely to all three versions, you heard the Sabbath version rather than Sunday.

And I'm unsure where it changed in popular literature from Sunday's trial to Sabbath child. But I do know that John Orchard Halliwell references it in some of his writing. But well, there, we have three versions of the short nursery rhyme of Monday's child. This nursery rhyme was first collected again by J O H in the 1830s, but likely, as I've mentioned about a number of nursery rhymes, it is probably much, much older, as you can tell, because I referenced it from the Elizabethan playwright from the 16th century. It is a great rhyme to teach your children the days of the week.

And it's fun with the superstitions. We see that it is still used today. It's still popular today. And there are other rhymes that are similar as far as telling the portents of your child's fate through rhyme. But I hope you found this week's episode. Interesting. Again, I apologize. It's a little bit short.

I just feel very crummy. But hopefully we will get back on a good rhythm here. And the rest of January, we are going to be talking about nursery rhymes that have to do with babies or fortune telling in a children's birth. So stay tuned next week, where I will continue to talk about. The weirdness of nursery rhymes and the weirdness of people who collect them. Goodness. Thank you.

References

A. Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500–1700 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 182.

Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, London 1849, "Days of Birth," p.228

Monday’s Child. Directed by Songs For Children - Topic, 2023. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYtAH3RZ7pk.

Your Birthday Party : Celebrate Your Birthday 14 Languages/ Oscar Brand And Friends : Jordan Evan Brand : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/lp_your-birthday-party-celebrate-your-birthd_jordan-evan-brand. Accessed 2 Jan. 2024.

“MONDAYS CHILD” Nursery Rhyme. Directed by david, 2012. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36t_CRDz4Ac. Harper’s Weekly 1887-09-17: Vol 31 Iss 1604. 1887. Out-of-copyright. http://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1887-09-17_31_1604.

Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O. (James Orchard). 1968. Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: A Sequel to The Nursery Rhymes of England. Detroit, Singing Tree Press. http://archive.org/details/popularrhymesan00philgoog.