St Swithins Day

St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithun’s day if thou be fair For forty days ’twill rain na mair * St. Swithun was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and building churches. Now we associate him with rain. As the Bishop lay dying, he asked to be buried outside, where he would be trodden on and rained upon. For nine years they honoured this wish, but later the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains and place in a splendid shrine inside the cathedral. They did this on 15 July 971. According to legend there was a heavy rain storm. This led to the belief that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather. One can only hope that this year in particular it will be a fine and cloudless day in England because they have had rain so far most of the year.