St Swithin's Day

Comments

• Xanthippe Posts: 2,090 ✭✭✭✭✭

  August 2014

  I didn't know this. :)
  
  This article is interesting too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/saints/swithin.shtml

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• zapppsr Posts: 231 ✭✭✭

  August 2014

  This theory about the weather stay the same day is based on observation... And that happens a lot in the UK.

  1
• mheredge Posts: 44,439 ✭✭✭✭

  August 2014

  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 nae mare.
  
  Or the Met Office's interpretation?
  
  St Swithun's day if thou dost rain
  For forty days, relatively unsettled there's a fair chance it will remain
  St Swithun's day if thou be fair
  For forty days, a northerly jet stream might result in some fairly decent spells
  But then again it might not.

  2
• kindgnice LEO Motivator!!! Posts: 8,049 mod

  April 2016

  From Wikipedia:
  
  Swithun (or Swithin, Old English: Swīþhūn, Latin: Swithunus; died c. 862 AD) 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. The precise meaning and origin of Swithun's name is unknown, but it most likely derives from the Old English word swiþ, 'strong'.[1]
  
  

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• mheredge Posts: 44,439 ✭✭✭✭

  April 2016

  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 nae mare

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