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15 Jul 10 - 01:51 AM (#2945320) Subject: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Liz the Squeak 'Tis the 15th of July as the song goes, and the feast day of St Swithun, an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. After several miracles during his lifetime, he died on 2 July 862, and gave orders that he was not to be buried within the church, but outside in a vile and unworthy place. A hundred years later, he was moved from his grave to an indoor shrine in the Old Minster at Winchester, traditionally on 15th July; whereupon it started to rain and didn't stop until his body was returned to the original grave some 40 days later. So, if it is raining where you are today, then sorry, you've got it til the end of August! I am happy to report that here in London, although it did rain a while ago, it was a short shower and came before 7.00am - and as we all know, 'rain before seven, fine by eleven'.... and we could use the moisture (don't worry, it seems to work fine with daylight savings time)! LTS |
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15 Jul 10 - 02:18 AM (#2945324) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: ClaireBear Thank you, Liz, for the reminder that it will indeed soon be that most wondrous saint's day, on which it will be my most solemn duty to sit on my front porch, sip cooling drinks, and exchange pleasantries with the neighbors about the weather! My kind of celebration, indeed. C |
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15 Jul 10 - 03:10 AM (#2945340) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Sooz One of the few weather sayings firmly rooted in meteorological fact. |
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15 Jul 10 - 03:46 AM (#2945349) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Richard Bridge 'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St. Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.' It is now not raining in ME3, and I am forecast a dry day until 4 am (on the 15th) although cool-ish (top temp 20) and windy. |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:00 AM (#2945354) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Will Fly One of the few weather sayings firmly rooted in meteorological fact. 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. * source: the book entitled 'Red Sky At Night' It's only logical isn't it? For the legend to be true, the weather all over the UK would have to stay exactly as it was for 40 days from today. Hardly likely. The 5-day forecast from the Met Office for my area shows a mixture of sun, showers, wind, etc. However, if we do get 40 days of rain here, I'll certainly let you all know. :-) |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:01 AM (#2945356) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: bubblyrat Devilish windy in Marlow at present,but no precipitation per se ; perhaps we'll get away with it on this occasion ? I don't fancy forty wet days with the school holidays coming up, Karen being a teacher an' all. |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:06 AM (#2945358) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Will Fly Just a thought: perhaps St. Swithin should be the Patron Saint of hosepipes... |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:12 AM (#2945360) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: gnomad Not raining in Whitby, but the ground is soaking from rain in the early hours. Forecast for tomorrow is fine with rain in the early hours. Six weeks of the same would do our tourist-based economy a power of good. I'm less certain about that the farmers will like it, they sometimes seem to disapprove of all weather. South-west winds is good too, but they look a bit stronger than ideal. |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:14 AM (#2945363) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: John MacKenzie Been pouring rain here for the last 9 hours, and it doesn't look like it's about to cease. Let's hope St Swithun's little ditty isn't true. |
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15 Jul 10 - 05:02 AM (#2945392) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Liz the Squeak It does actually have a basis in meteorological fact... The beginning/middle of July usually heralds a set pattern in the weather fronts sweeping across the UK. If the pattern is fair, then it remains settled and fair for about 6 weeks. If the weather is unsettled (showers), then that is what we get for those 6 weeks. The "tradition" that it always rains on Bank Holiday Monday in August has the same meteorological basis.... the set pattern of weather fronts break around the end of August. Unfortunately, I can't cite my sources as I heard this about 25 years ago before 'tinternet were invented proper like. LTS |
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15 Jul 10 - 05:32 AM (#2945402) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: fat B****rd It's hissing down in Dunfermline. My fault for planning much gardening. |
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15 Jul 10 - 06:29 AM (#2945419) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: The Borchester Echo Thinking back now, I suppose you were just stating your views What was it all for For the weather or the battle of Agincourt And the times that we all hoped would last Like a train they have gone by so fast And though we stood together At the edge of the platform We were not moved by them With my own hands When I make love to your memory It's not the same I miss the thunder I miss the rain And the fact that you don't understand Casts a shadow over this land But the sun still shines from behind it. Thanks all the same But I just can't bring myself to answer your letters It's not your fault But your honesty touches me like a fire The polaroids that hold us together Will surely fade away Like the love that we spoke of forever On St Swithin's day. (Billy Bragg) |
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15 Jul 10 - 06:43 AM (#2945424) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Sugwash Trying to look on the bright side in wet and windy Plymouth. Doesn't the fact that St Swithun's sad death and extended and mobile funeral predated the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, where those cheeky Catholics diddled the country out of 10 days, mean that the actual St Swithun's Day is the 25th of July? We can only hope! |
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15 Jul 10 - 06:50 AM (#2945426) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Bat Goddess I first heard about St. Swithin's Day from my father -- who was a product of the US Midwestern farming community. (Early 20th century Colby, Wisconsin Germanic Lutheran tradition.) I never heard it from any other source until I started reading about folklore and weather proverbs, etc. Linn |
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15 Jul 10 - 09:04 AM (#2945503) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Dead Horse Global wettening! Should I be building a boat? Pass me a cubit somebody.......:-) |
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15 Jul 10 - 11:36 AM (#2945587) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: pavane Only 90m sea rise when the polar ice caps melt (or was that 190m) |
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15 Jul 10 - 11:38 AM (#2945588) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Tug the Cox Today's Guardian weather watch gives the meterological background. As long as you don't take it literally it is a pretty good example of long term weather patterns. By this time, the weather has generally settled down to prolonged high pressure, or a succession of Atlantic fronts ( as in the past few years). If we miss a settled period now, we're not likely to get another till early Sept ( normally just as the kids go back to school) Thundery rain, like today, is common in otherwise dry summers. All this applies to UK only, though similar patterns may pertain in western Canada around 50 degrees North. |
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15 Jul 10 - 12:03 PM (#2945600) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: ClaireBear A lovely clear morning here in California, and 'twill be fine and warm later on, but with a ribbon of fog to cool the coast. I suppose I can manage six weeks of that. C |
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15 Jul 10 - 12:10 PM (#2945608) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Micca Ah but Clair, what of the wine harvest?? |
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15 Jul 10 - 02:27 PM (#2945704) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: VirginiaTam If weather is mixed on 15th, then you are likely to get 40 days of mixed weather. If so, then the saying must be true, right? |
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15 Jul 10 - 03:31 PM (#2945751) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Tug the Cox Virginia.....not to be taken literally!!! |
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15 Jul 10 - 03:31 PM (#2945752) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Tug the Cox |
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15 Jul 10 - 04:18 PM (#2945774) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: VirginiaTam I was just joshin Tug. Love Tamara (not to be taken literally) |
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15 Jul 10 - 06:47 PM (#2945840) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: GUEST,leeneia Happy St. Swithun's Day to YOU, Liz. Thanks for the good wishes. We are having typical summer weather here in the Midwest. Hot days relieved by violent storms. The tomatoes seem to love it. Wasnit there a reference to St Swithun somewhere in the fiction of James Thurber? It may have been in that story about rhe princess who wanted the moon. |
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16 Jul 10 - 12:42 AM (#2945952) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: mousethief House of Clocks I once had a gilded clock Constructed in la Belle Epoque The hour hand broke, now it won't turn back So long, so long, so long I once had a sundial too But green and wild my garden grew The undergrowth obscured the view So long, so long, so long Not a word could make her stay The East wind blows the sun away Oh I lost her on St. Swithun's day Oh why? I grew up in a house of clocks And late at night I'd sometimes walk Listening to their rhythmic talk So long, so long, so long Clocks that sang in ringing chimes To take the measure of the times Clocks that spoke in wordless rhymes, So long, so long , so long Not a word could make her stay The wine is spilt and flows away I lost her on St. Swithun's day Oh why? by Al Stewart |
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16 Jul 10 - 04:09 AM (#2946003) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: BusyBee Paul St Swithun's Day to me is "Dad's Birthday". He'd have been 93 yesterday. I thought I was coping OK with it (he died two years ago) but totally missed this thread - maybe I wasn't as "with it" as I thought. Happy days. |
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16 Jul 10 - 05:59 AM (#2946048) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: Allan C. I first heard of St. Swithun's Day through an expression I encountered in West Virginia. When an old farmer I knew wanted to express the opinion that something would probably never happen, he would say it would happen on St. Swithun's Day. My guess at the time was that he assumed that nobody knew when St. Swithun's Day was and so, in his mind, was equivalent to never. I don't know if the expression was used by others in the area. He was also often known to say that something impossible would happen on the "31st of Juvember when the fall beans is ripe." |
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16 Jul 10 - 11:12 AM (#2946197) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: GUEST,leeneia Thanks for the fine poem, mousethief. Allan, I enjoyed your observations. |
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16 Jul 10 - 11:18 AM (#2946204) Subject: RE: Folklore: Happy St Swithun's Day From: GUEST,crazy little woman Has anybody else been reading this thread with a puzzled frown, wondering whether it isn't supposed to be 'Swithin'? Well, here's the answer: Saint Swithun or Swithin (Old English: Swīþhūn; died c. 862) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. His historical importance as bishop is overshadowed by his reputation for posthumous miracle-working. According to tradition, the weather on his feast day (15 July) will continue for forty days. Now I wonder if the spelling 'Swīþhūn' means that his name had a long U and was originally pronounced Swith-OON, like Sas-SOON. It seems to me that someone named Swith-OON would have more mastery over clouds than a mere SWITHin. |