Looks like rain again...

(According to tradition, if it rains upon St Swithin's day, it will rain for the next 40 days*...
According to another tradition, if it rains upon St Swithin's day, it will bring a bumper crop of apples.
Nice to be able to choose traditions, eh?

Apples or washout regardless, here's an oldie from Bill...)




'St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more.'

* St. Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester and legend says that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden on and rained on. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm either during the ceremony or on its anniversary.

This led to the old wives' tale (folklore) that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.

However, according to the Met Office, this old wives' tale is nothing other than a myth. It has been put to the test on 55 occasions, when it has been wet on St Swithin's Day and 40 days of rain did not follow.

3 comments:

Cornish Dreamer said...

I love these old legends and wives tales.
Cornwall has one too: St Piran (patron saint of tin) was, apparently, tied to a millstone by the Irish and rolled off a cliff, only to float safely over to Cornwall. There are some Cornish folk who take this very seriously...

Anonymous said...

and did it actually rain?

Anonymous said...

yeh! its right,their are different traditions which has different beleaves.