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If the old proverb is correct, the rain yesterday on St Swithin's day means we are in for 40 more soaking days.
According to the legend:
"On St Swithin's day if thou dost rain,
For 40 days it will remain,
St Swithin's day if thou be fair,
For 40 days it will rain nae mair."
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I did a Google for 'song' + 'rain'......and got 39 million hits!.......but I did find a site that listed songs by subjects and this gave me 775 titles! However I like to choose titles from my collection and in fact all sheet music on this blog has come from 'my little bottom drawer'.
So......who was this 'Saint'?
I'm sure the Church will have had a clear-out and I don't expect that he still is a 'real' Saint.
But.......
St. Swithin was an early Saxon Bishop of Winchester who died in 861 AD and legend says that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried in the common graveyard, “where the rain would fall on him and the feet of ordinary men could pass over him.” For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine.
The work began on July 15th, but it couldn’t be finished then, or for many years afterwards. Torrential rains prevented it on the first day and these continued for forty days and forty nights.
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Records show that since 1861 there have never been 40 wet days following a wet St Swithin's Day - although the summer of 1985 came close with records showing rain in Luton for 30 subsequent days.
Oddly enough, while most of us would rather not see rain on July 15th, apple-growers hope for it on this day, as well as on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29) for it is believed that the saints are watering the crops. If they fail to do so, the apple-crop will be a poor one. Furthermore, no apple should picked or eaten before July 15th and all apples growing at this time will ripen.
And a ditty to finish...
The rain it raineth every day
Upon the just and unjust fella,
But on the just the most, because
The unjust’s got the justs’ umbrella!
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Huh. We had no rain yesterday but rain today. Hmph.
ReplyDeleteIs that Sally Lunn's tea and bun shop in Bath on the loaf post? And I did try to comment on the Enid Blyton house picture but as I was doing it as open ID, trying to sign as "Not Lynn" it wouldn't let me. So...just to say I really love thatch, hope they serve teas in that lovely garden because thatch, flowers and teas go so well together, and that I don't think you should feel guilty about photographing over their screen (cos they could have made it higher but didn't).
By Not Lynn and not Flossie either.
Even if you guess it right, I might not tell you.
It pith, it pitheth down here too -I've emptied Raki's swimming pool because it floats so I will go shopping sitting in it and using a wooden spoon as a paddle.
ReplyDeleteHi "Not Lynn",
ReplyDeleteMmm, rain today?..That puts you to the west of the country? Well, I knew that anyway 'cos you shop in Ludlow.
...and Bath,...and Hay-on-Wye.
Yes, Old Thatch does teas and things.
I have found out lots more so will do a follow-up blog.
That screen was 6' high and I held the camera up at arms length to take it. That's why it's wonky!
Well D-D, if you will live in such a lovely part of the west country, you have to expect the wet winds to bring rain in from the west. I would much rather be in Dors..I mean Devon in the rain..than this parched south-east sector of England. My garden is like a dust-bowl.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a bit of Edward Lear..
"Raki and a Dumpling,
Went to shop,
In a beautiful blow-up pool."
Foody (Not Lynn).
ReplyDeleteThat Open ID should work. The only thing I have turned off is anonymous comments.