St Swithin's Day - 15th of July
St Swithin's Day - 15th of July
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. (no more)
St Swithin's History
During the 800s, a man named Swithin (spelling also recorded as 'Swithun') was the Bishop of Winchester in England. Some 100 years after his death in 862, and for reasons not documented, Bishop Swithin's remains were transferred to Winchester Cathedral on 15th July 971.
On that same day there was a tremendous rainstorm. Legend has it that Bishop Swithin was so angry about the move from his final resting place that he caused the storm. According to old rain-saint English folklore, if it should rain on 15th July, then St. Swithin will make it rain for the following 40 days. Incidentally, this 40 period ends on St. Bartholomew's Day, which is the 24th of August.
Henry the VIII is responsible for St Swithin's fall from grace. In the middle ages the shrine of St Swithin in Winchester Cathedral was a most popular place of pilgrimage. For reasons which we have not been able to establish, King Henry, or someone highly placed in his court, took against poor St Swithin and demolished his shrine.
St Swithin - Superstitions of the Rain-saint
Oddly enough, while most of us would rather not see rain on July 15th, apple-growers hope for a good soaking on this day. This is because they believe that the 'saints are watering the crops.' If they fail to do so, the apple-crop will be a poor one. Furthermore, no apple should picked or eaten before July 15th. The other side of the superstition is that apple-growers believe all apples still growing at St Swithin's day will ripen fully.
In recent times, St Swithin's day was dry in 1995, and it remained dry for 38 of the 40 days between 15th of July and 24th of August. Whereas in 1985, it rained on St Swithin's day, and continued to rain for 30 of the 40 days that followed.
On this day beware of 'dogs eating grass' as it is an old superstition that this will bring rain. Furthermore, rain is highly likely when a cat busily washes its ears, this is another ancient British superstition.
Other countries have similar customs to St Swithin, but with different names and different dates. The French have St Medard's day on 8th of June, while the Belgians have St. Godelieve on 27th of July. My point is this is a recurring superstition, but each variant has a different days and emphasises different aspects.
St. Swithin's Churches
England has several churches dedicated, or named after St Swithin, here are a few examples dedicated to the 'rain-saint'
Retford, Yorkshire 1258 (Restored 1658)
Bude, Cornwall (15th century)
Sproatley, Yorkshire (1819)
Lincoln (Mid 19th century)
Norwich 1882
St Swithin Orchid - Paphiopedilum
St Swithin is also the name give to a hybrid orchid. The St Swithin orchid is created by crossing Paphiopedilum rothschildianum with Paphiopedilum philippinense.
As you can see from the picture to the right, St Swithin is one of the biggest, and most interesting, examples of the Orchid genus.
Twinning St Swithin
The French have a similar belief about the weather on 8 June, which is St Gervasius' Day. However, Will and Guy feel that St Swithin should be twinned with St Punxsutawney and Groundhog day. Our thinking is that in addition to their forecasting prowess, there is a near symmetry between February and July.
¤
See more Saints Days and other special days :
● Special Days ● St David's Day ● St Patrick's Day ● St George's Day ● St Andrew's ● Home
● Burns Night ● Up-Helly-Aa ● Groundhog ● Shrove Tue ● Candlemas ● Lady Day ● May Day
● 4th July ● Bastille Day ● St Swithin's ● Lammas ● Labor Day ● Michaelmas ● Remembrance
Joke of the dayGet a clean joke delivered to your inbox every day, no strings attached, just part of our free service. Subscribe to Will and Guy's Joke of the Day. We have over 1,000 pages of funny pictures, clean jokes, stories and amusing videos. Please use the Search below to find a topic of particular interest: |
Jokes for mobile phones / cell phonesWill and Guy now have clean jokes and funny pictures formatted for 'mobi' or cell phones. Discover more about our 'mobi' sub-site If you enter the following uri into your mobile or cell phone, then you can view Will and Guy's site on your handset: http://guy-sports.com/mobi/ |
|
Email Guy and send your joke or funny picture to:
 ● Home ● Latest Pages |
