Weather Word – Swithin
Hello,
Today is the feast of St. Swithin (the 15th of July) and as I’ve been working on “Words Weather Gave Us” for a while now (hopefully due out in 2025) I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered about this particular weather story. It’s not totally complete, expect a longer tale in the book version.
St. Swithin’s Day {extract from “Words Weather Gave Us” by Grace Tierney}
The lore of St. Swithin’s Day is that if it rains on his feast day it will rain on each of the following forty days. That’s a forecast most would wish to avoid. The young Swithin was a devout and ambitious monk in Wessex, in the south of England. He was popular with King Egbert of Wessex who asked him to educate his son Ethelwulf.
This was a great honour and turned out well for Swithin. When Ethelwulf left his studies behind and became king he appointed his former tutor to the position of Lord Bishop of Winchester, a prime post at the time.
The bishop was famous for his humble nature. When he threw a banquet he would invite the poor and needy rather than the rich and noble. After his death in 862 he was buried, at his request, in a lowly spot where the rain from the cathedral roof would spill onto his grave, and there he lay for a century.
This holy man’s reputation grew after his demise. Miracles were alleged to have occurred at his grave. The monks decided such a saint’s grave should lie within the cathedral inside a richly decorated golden shrine as befitted his fame. The day set for the transferal of his bones was the 15th of July 971.
According to the story a wild storm raged on the day so the move was postponed. The next day it rained again. It rained for forty days and forty night and eventually the monks took the hint and cancelled the entire move. A simple chapel was erected at the original grave instead.
Meteorologists largely ignore this particular superstition and weather records have thrown doubt on its accuracy but similar stories exist in other countries. In Scotland St. Martin Bullion controls the weather for forty days from the 4th of July. In France several saints share the role – Benedict, Medard, Protase, and Anne. The Belgians have Godelieve on the 27th of July. Italians look to Bartholomew and the Germans know the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
Regardless of origin all share the Biblical reference to forty days and forty nights – a truly long-range weather forecast.
{end of extract}
Unfortunately where I live, it rained today, so our summer may have fallen foul of St. Swithin.
Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
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