Birth Weekday & Day Ruler
Find the day of the week you were born, its ruling planet, the old "child" rhyme and how many days you have lived.
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Why the Days Have Planetary Rulers
The seven-day week comes from the ancient world's seven visible "wandering" bodies: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Each day was dedicated to one of them, and the tradition has lasted. In English, three names are still obvious: Sunday, Monday (Moon day) and Saturday (Saturn's day). The others carry the names of Norse gods who were matched with the Roman ones: Tiw with Mars, Woden with Mercury, Thor with Jupiter and Frigg with Venus.
The "Child" Rhyme
You may know the old verse that begins "Monday's child is fair of face." Versions of it were written down in the nineteenth century and it has been recited ever since. It is a folk rhyme and not an astrological text, which is why we label it as a curiosity. We include it because people enjoy it, and because it shows how long the idea that a birth day carries a character has been around.
What the Tool Adds
Besides your birth weekday, it counts how many days you have been alive, which is a surprisingly affecting number, and tells you which day of the week your next birthday falls on. Use the day ruler as a small, playful way into the planets. Once you know your birth day is ruled by, say, Venus, the Learn section has a page on what Venus stands for in a chart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the time zone affect my weekday? Only if you were born close to midnight and use a date in another zone; the tool uses the date you enter. Is the rhyme accurate? It is a nineteenth-century folk verse and not an astrological text. Why is the day ruled by a planet? Because the ancient week assigned one of the seven visible bodies to each day, which is also where several of our weekday names come from.