The “Blackbird Days” in Tuscany

The “Blackbird Days” in Tuscany

The coldest days of January are called “i giorni della merla” (the blackbird days), that is, January 29, 30 and 31. In fact, snow or cold snaps are quite common during this period.

The name of these three days comes from an Italian legend. The story goes that a long time ago, January only had 28 days and blackbirds were white. They lived happily among the trees, and every winter they impatiently waited for the cold days to come to an end. One January, on the 28th day, a bold blackbird rejoiced and shouted to January, "I don’t care about you anymore, winter is over!". January was angered by this disrespectful outburst and asked February to lend him three of its days, and proceeded to make them the harshest and coldest of all! The blackbird got scared and worried, and so moved its family away from the trees to a stone chimney on the top of an old farmhouse. For those three days of terrible ice and cold they hid in the chimney, and when the 1^st of February arrived, along with warm sunshine, the blackbird and its family emerged, no longer white, but black and sooty. That's why blackbirds are now always born black, and February only has 28 days, instead of 31!

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