When Were You Born?

What day of the week were you born on? 

According to Monday's Child, an old-time rhyme, that explains a lot about your looks, temperament and work ethics:

Monday's child is fair of face
Tuesday's child if 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's born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

The rhyme's first published source is 1838 -- but similar children's songs are mentioned as being in popular use in -- the 1570s!!  Some versions swap places with Wednesday's 'bad' and Friday's 'good' places. Thursday and Saturday's meanings can do some fancy footwork, too.

I wonder if this was another of those 'teach-children-with-a-rhyme' projects, similar to the 'days of the week' handkerchiefs and underwear. Handkerchiefs from the 19th century often did the same thing, not only with rhymes and readings, but Bible school hymns and mini-sermons. And, if they were accompanied with illustrations, like this 19th century piece, even the better.

"Monday's Child," another version, published 1873 in St. Nicholas, a children's periodical   (Wikipedia)
Note the Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday variation

     After all this, I began wondering about our family's connection to Monday's Child. Fortunately, the Brick's cellphone lets you track days in past centuries -- even as far back as B.C. times. 

I was a Monday girl. (The Mama was, too, as was the Brick's dad.) However, both the Brick and my dad were born on Sundays. (Guess they're more blithe and gay than their feminine counterparts.) The Brick's mom was a Saturday girl. 

Our girlies, however, are a whole different story. Daughter #1 was born on a Friday; Daughter #2 was on Wednesday. (And she is the least woeful child you could ever find.) Son #1 is a Thursday.

How come their birth days are different from their parents and grandparents? I have no idea...except Daughters #1 and #2 were born five days, less two years apart. 

Either way, it makes for fascinating conjecture.

                                              Who knows what Charley's birth day is on...