St Swithuns Day, if thou dost rain ...

Feast day of St Swithin (Swithun), England, confessor, patron of Winchester

(Small Cape marigold, Calendula pluvialis, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint. The esoteric meaning of this plant is 'omen; sign'.)

St Swithuns Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days, it will remain:
St Swithun's Day, if thou be fair,
For forty days ‘twill rain nae mair.

An English weather prognostication day

According to tradition, the weather today will be replicated for the next forty days.

Our story today takes us back more than a millennium, to the days when the British Isles were beset by Viking raids and Charlemagne’s empire ruled supreme in Europe. St Swithin (or Swithun) was Bishop of Winchester, England, and adviser to King Egbert of Wessex (d. 839) and probably tutor to his son Ethelwulf. He was called the 'drunken saint', but no such behaviour is recorded of him ...

Categories: saint, uk, england, calendar-customs, weather