| St
Swithin’s Day |
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40 days of rain or 40 days of fine weather lie ahead |
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St
Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more. |
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July 15th
is St Swithin's Day. And what a gloroiusly sunny day it is.
Rain on this day heralds another 40 days of rain. By the same token,
the fact that it is likely to be dry is a guarantee that 40 days of
fine weather lie ahead.
Relatively little is known about Swithin. It is likely that he was
an advisor to Egbert, King of the West Saxons.
His consecration as Bishop of Winchester took place on October 30,
852.
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| Richard
Angwin - Wiltshire weather is his expertise. |
On his
deathbed Swithin requested that he be buried alongside the north wall
of Winchester Cathedral, where passers-by should walk over the site
of his grave and the rain should fall upon it.
Just over a century after his death it was decided to move his body
inside the Cathedral.
It is said that after this took place on July 15, 971 there was a
great storm. It is said that prayers to Swithin met with miraculous
cures and he was canonized some years later.
There is no evidence to support the '40 days' theory. In fact, there
are several saints' days that are supposed to be followed by periods
of wet or fine weather but, again, there is no supporting evidence.
It is difficult to explain why St Swithin's Day should be so familiar
to us all when the supporting evidence is notable by its absence.
But with the region enjoying a fine St Swithin's Day, many will be
hoping the saint proves the Met Office wrong and the next 40 days
remain fine.
Richard Angwin
Points West Weatherman
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St. Swithin was an early Saxon Bishop of Winchester.
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