July: Legend of the Rain Saint... and Apples!

Saint Swithin
Statue of Saint Swithin in
Stavanger Cathedral

The month of July in Ireland has a famous connection with the 9th century legend of English Saint Swithin. As the verse describes, if it rains on his Feast Day, July 15th, according to the folklore, it will continue to rain for 40 days and 40 nights!

"Saint Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
Saint Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more."

This well-known weather rhyme is popular throughout Ireland and the British Isles. Saint Swithin was an early Saxon Bishop of Winchester, England.  According to the legend, as he lay on his deathbed, Saint Swithin 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.

His wish was granted but nine years later, according to the tale, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove the remains of Saint Swithin to a splendid shrine.

As the legend goes, work on the shrine began on July 15th, but it couldn't be finished then, or for many years afterwards. Downpours prevented the work on the first day and these torrential rains continued for forty days and forty nights.

It was said that Saint Swithin, who was strongly against any outward displays of ostentation or material possessions was weeping in protest. The entire countryside then became completely flooded, breaking a long period of drought and the monks began to beseech Saint Swithin to intercede for them. He was then said to have appeared to one of the monks and revealed to him how unhappy and disappointing it was to God that they were spending their time wasting money, instead of looking after the less fortunate and poor. Saint Swithin then insisted that the monks never interfere with his remains after that. 

The work on the ostentatious mausoleum was finally completed in AD 963. By then, the legend of Saint
Swithin as a “rain-saint” was firmly in place. During the middle ages, the legend made its way to Ireland, where Saint Swithin's poem is still regularly quoted. 

While elements of the story of Saint Swithin have been embellished over the years, there is a lot to be learned from old weather fables. Old rhymes and sayings, while not always expected to be interpreted literally, show how our ancestors passed on knowledge through the generations in an easily memorable way.

While most people do not hope for rain on July 15th, one group of people do! Another tradition associated with July is that Apple-growers wish for rain on July 15th as well as the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th because if it rains on those days, it is believed that the crops have been watered by the saints. If those days are dry, then as the story goes, the apple crop will be a bad one. In addition to this, apple growers believe that no apples should be picked or eaten before Saint Swithin’s Day... be warned when passing an orchard!
Posted on luglio 15, 2014