“St Swithin’s Day, if thou dost rain
Full forty days it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if thou be fair
For forty days, t’will rain no mair.”
— British Proverb

Today is the feast day of St Swithin, an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester, and one of the most popular weather-lore saints in Britain.

Legend says that the holy man wished to be buried among the poor people he loved. But when crowds began to flock to his grave hoping for a miracle, the clergy decided to move his remains to a lavish shrine in Winchester Cathedral.

With his dying wish broken, the saint was so distraught with tears that it rained thereafter for forty days and forty nights — originating the belief that whichever weather is upon us on July 15th, will remain so for the next forty days.

For the record, it’s windy and horrible today in England.

Image Credit: Westall, Richard (1795). Summer Storm: A Shepherd with His Dog and Sheep in a Stormy Landscape. Available HERE.

Further Reading: Kightly, Charles (1987). The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore. London: Thames and Hudson.