Stories and legends: The Days of the Blackbird - Italian legends

In January there are the days called ‘the 3 days of the blackbird ’, which by definition are the coldest days of the year. There are many stories and legends associated with these days, very nice stories to read to children. The days of the blackbird are for some the last three days of January, for others the last two days and the first day of February, and it is important to know that blackbirds long ago were all white.

The first story tells of a family of blackbirds, father, mother and three little ones, who had nested under the eaves of a building in Milan. But that year it was so cold that father and mother blackbird couldn't find anything to eat, the snow covered everything. So father blackbird decided to go looking for something to eat where the snow had not yet arrived.

Before leaving, however, he moved the nest next to a chimney so that his little ones would not also suffer from the cold. When he returned after three days, on the 1st of February, he could hardly recognise his chicks because, standing near the chimney, which had never been extinguished due to the bitter cold, soot had coloured their white feathers black.

But Papa Blackbird did not remain white either, because that night he slept cuddled with Mama Blackbird and her chicks and his feathers also turned black and remained so forever, and blackbirds have been born with black feathers ever since.

Another story tells of a blackbird that had been regularly scrambled since January, which waited for her to come out of the nest to eat in order to trigger blizzards and cold weather. One year, tired of all this, the blackbird at the end of the year took enough food to last her the whole month and locked herself up in her nest.

On the last day of the month, the blackbird came out of the nest, convinced it had tricked the bad January and began to sing. Angered January went to ask February for a three-day loan, and unleashed all his wrath with cold, wind and blizzards. The blackbird took refuge next to a fireplace to avoid freezing to death, but the soot blackened all her beautiful white feathers and so they remained forever.

There are, however, those who have also given warlike definitions for these three days. The writer Sebastiano Pauli in his book ‘modi di dire toscani ricercati nella loro origine’ (‘Tuscan idioms researched in their origin’) relates that during the war almost at the end of January, a large cannon called the Merla had to be moved to the other side of the river and in the last three days of January it was so cold that the river froze and they were able to transport the cannon to the other bank.

In the Roman calendar the month of January had only 28 days and a legend has it that Julius Caesar instructed an astronomer and Priest of Jupiter, named Cornelius Merula, to reform the calendar. He took three days from February and moved them to January. His name in time changed from Merula to Merla.

Another legend tells of a boy and girl who, on their way to a party, crossed the river Po, which was frozen. But the ice broke and the two fell into the water. Only a blackbird saw what happened and flew three days among the people chirping for help. On the third day the ice melted and the corpses of the two boys were found, around which flowers bloomed.

Another story tells of a servant of Herod who had captured a nest with mother blackbird and her three young to eat. But father blackbird stole a straw from the cradle of the baby Jesus and dropped it into the nest. Her little ones miraculously soon learned to fly and were able to escape from their captivity.

And in yet another, a soldier of Herod put gall in the cup of baby Jesus' milk. A blackbird saw it and drank all the poisoned milk and for three days was between life and death. On the third day Jesus brought back the sun, which hastened the blackbird's recovery.

Also according to legend, if the blackbird ‘s days are warm or it rains, spring will come late, if it snows and is cold, spring will be beautiful.

But all these legends teach us that after a difficult period there always comes another happy one, and that in life one must be patient.