Merla (female Blackbird) Day is an Italian tradition that falls on January 29, 30 or 31.  It is said that if the sun shines on that day, a blackbird (a black bird) has a “party” and the weather warms up.  However, if it is cloudy, the blackbird returns to its nest and the winter continues.  It is a holiday very much linked to popular beliefs and Italian folklore.

We are in the thick of “i giorni della merla”, the days of the blackbird, when the coldest part of winter hits us between the last week of January and the first week of February. The weather has been true to traditional prediction with nights always around zero. The days have also been brilliantly clear with crisp, frosty mornings. So are we going to see the winter continue for very much longer?

There is a local legend about this which was told to me in Italian. As a fun thing to do I turned the Italian prose into English verse:

BLACKBIRD DAYS

Snow upon snow fell on the whitebirds’ nest –

the winter had never been so cold.

Beneath the eaves the bitter chill compressed

their little lives exposed, unconsoled.

*

“If it carries on like this,” daddy bird moaned,

“we’ll nevermore see the spring again”.

“Our little ones will soon die,” the mother groaned,

 “so very soon, but who will know when?”

*

The parents tried to pick a few crumbs of bread

before they too were hidden by snow.

Their feathered hearts were filled with iced-up dread.

while a hard north wind began to blow.

*

“We must decide now or die” the parents said.

“Let’s move our nest near that chimney pot;

while I go and hunt for food you stay in bed

and keep warm next to that cosy spot”.

*

So all that day mummy bird and her three chicks

kept by the stack which blew warmth and smoke.

What clever birds they’d been to think of these tricks:

free all-day heating for avian folk!

*

But when the father returned, beak-full of food,

he didn’t recognize his wife and kids;

the smoke had made all their feathers quite, quite dark-hued

from their tails right up to their eye-lids.

*

“No matter,” he said, “we’ll rename ourselves.

From now humans will call us ‘black bird’

and goblins and nymphs, sprites and wood elves

throughout the land will spread this new word.

*

And so it was that the birds survived the freeze

and that now the whitebird is black;

and I’m sure it’s all, as everyone agrees,

thanks to that useful chimney-stack!

*