Today is St Swithin's Day - a day on which people anxiously check the weather with fingers crossed. Tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days. According to a rhyme well known since Elizabethan times.'St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more.'
St Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester and legend says that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden underfoot and rained upon. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, on 15th July, 971, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm during the ceremony and on its anniversary. This led to the old wives' tale that if it rains on St Swithin's Day, it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.
St Swithin (or more properly, Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester and legend says that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, where he would be trodden underfoot and rained upon. For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, on 15th July, 971, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm during the ceremony and on its anniversary. This led to the old wives' tale that if it rains on St Swithin's Day, it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather.
