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Yesterday was the feast of St. Swithin’s, the day on which, if the prophecy is correct, it will rain for another forty days if it rains today.
Well, in our part of the world it did rain. In shedloads; so we know now what to expect!
St Swithin, or more correctly St. Swithun, was a ninth-century Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester about which little is known. He apparently asked to be buried out of doors (‘Where it might be subject to the feet of passers-by and the raindrops pouring from on high’) and this wish was originally respected though he was later moved to a tomb within Winchester Cathedral which became a place of pilgrimage. Various miracles were ascribed to him, including one in which he is supposed to have restored a basket of eggs that had been maliciously broken. Part of the saint’s body still rests in Winchester Cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral is said to have his head and Peterborough Abbey one of his arms.
The legend about the rain is supposed to derive from the saint’s acute displeasure at having his body moved to a tomb within the Cathedral, though there are other theories that it derives from pagan auguries at the same time or that it is a function of the weather at this time of year.
Either way, the legend that if it rains on this day we will have rain for another forty days is fixed in our folklore -
St. Swithun’s Day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain.
St. Swithun’s Day if thou be fair
For forty days ‘twill rain no more.
And, judging from the cold, blustery winds that beset us yesterday and the amount of rain they brought with them, we are in for another forty days of the same.
It’s what we call an English summer!
.
Yesterday was the feast of St. Swithin’s, the day on which, if the prophecy is correct, it will rain for another forty days if it rains today.
Well, in our part of the world it did rain. In shedloads; so we know now what to expect!
St Swithin, or more correctly St. Swithun, was a ninth-century Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester about which little is known. He apparently asked to be buried out of doors (‘Where it might be subject to the feet of passers-by and the raindrops pouring from on high’) and this wish was originally respected though he was later moved to a tomb within Winchester Cathedral which became a place of pilgrimage. Various miracles were ascribed to him, including one in which he is supposed to have restored a basket of eggs that had been maliciously broken. Part of the saint’s body still rests in Winchester Cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral is said to have his head and Peterborough Abbey one of his arms.
The legend about the rain is supposed to derive from the saint’s acute displeasure at having his body moved to a tomb within the Cathedral, though there are other theories that it derives from pagan auguries at the same time or that it is a function of the weather at this time of year.
Either way, the legend that if it rains on this day we will have rain for another forty days is fixed in our folklore -
St. Swithun’s Day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain.
St. Swithun’s Day if thou be fair
For forty days ‘twill rain no more.
And, judging from the cold, blustery winds that beset us yesterday and the amount of rain they brought with them, we are in for another forty days of the same.
It’s what we call an English summer!
.
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