'Saint Swithun's Day' 🌈 15 July

Simon O'Donovan
Jul 15
3 min read

St Swithun's Day – 15 July

Welcome everyone! Today we're celebrating St Swithun's Day, one of Britain's best-known weather folklore days.

St Swithun was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester who died in 862 AD. He was remembered as a kind and humble man who cared for the poor, built churches and repaired bridges. According to legend, he asked to be buried outside Winchester Cathedral so that "the sweet rain of heaven" could fall upon his grave. When his remains were moved inside the cathedral years later, tradition says the heavens opened with torrential rain.

This gave rise to one of Britain's oldest weather sayings:

"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 nae mair."

Although modern meteorologists say this isn't literally true, there is a grain of science behind the legend. Around the middle of July, our summer weather patterns often become established, so a spell of settled or unsettled weather can sometimes continue for several weeks.

Why Forty Days?

The number 40 appears many times in history, religion and folklore, often symbolising a significant period of change or testing.

Examples include:

Noah's Flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai.
Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Lent lasts around 40 days.
In many traditions, forty days represents a complete season of waiting, reflection or transformation.

So, whether or not the weather really lasts forty days, the number carries a special symbolic meaning.

Let's Talk Summer Weather

Summer brings us long evenings, gardens in bloom, family holidays, picnics, seaside trips, Wimbledon, strawberries and cream, thunderstorms, rainbows, barbecues - and, of course, the occasional British downpour!

Discussion questions:

Do you remember particularly hot summers?
Have you ever been caught in a summer thunderstorm?
What was your favourite summer holiday?
Do you enjoy sunshine or cooler weather?
Have you ever seen a double rainbow?

Weather Sayings

How many of these do you know?

Every cloud has a silver lining.
Save it for a rainy day.
Come rain or shine.
Under the weather.
Take a rain check.
Storm in a teacup.
Rainbow after the rain.
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.
Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.
Rain before seven, fine by eleven.
As right as rain.
It's raining cats and dogs.

CST Song of the Day

🌈 "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland (1939)

One of the world's most loved songs, written for The Wizard of Oz, it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and has become a timeless symbol of hope, dreams and brighter days after the storm.

Other Great Rain Songs

Why not finish with a singalong featuring some classic rain-themed favourites?

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head – B.J. Thomas
Singin' in the Rain – Gene Kelly
Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters
Fire and Rain – James Taylor
It's Raining Men – The Weather Girls
Here Comes the Rain Again – Eurythmics
Rainy Night in Georgia – Randy Crawford
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? – Creedence Clearwater Revival
I Love a Rainy Night – Eddie Rabbitt
Purple Rain – Prince

Whether today brings sunshine or showers, St Swithun's Day reminds us that British weather is always a wonderful talking point—and that after every shower, there's always the chance of a beautiful rainbow. 🌈