‘St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’twill rain nae mair.’

I like checking out unusual holidays and celebrations each day.  You never know what you’ll learn.  For example, today is St.Swithin’s Day.  I’d never heard of the Sainted bishop of Westminster who lived during the 800s.  His time on earth apparently didn’t merit a great deal of attention.  I guess before the Renaissance, nothing much merited any attention, but once he passed away several miracles were attributed to him prior to and after his death.

He requested that he be buried  in the church yard so that people passing by would walk over his grave and the falling rain from the eaves of the church would wash over him. Rather a weird request, but I guess his wishes were acknowledged.  Maybe he was a fan of falling rain.  Perhaps this was his ritual shower for the week.  Who knows?

On the 15th of July, it was decided to move his body to a more suitable place and it is said that it rained for 40 days after the move.  Tradition holds that if it rains on July 15 it will continue for 40 days. If the weather is fair, it will continue for the same amount of time.  I think it may have had something to do with the depth of the grave and other impending developments.

I guess you could call St. Swithin one of the first meteorologists.  He certainly had a handle on weather trends.  Probably more so than our current weather people.

Today is also National Gummy Worm day – Cow Appreciation Day and Tapioca Pudding Day.  So if the spirit moves you, meander out to the country and hug a cow.  Then if it’s not raining, plan on having a picnic of tapioca pudding and gummy worms.  Don’t worry about rain falling, because it won’t for another 40 days.

Reposted from 7/15/2016 by atimetoshare.me