Saint Swithin's Day Lyrics
If it rains on the 15th of July, says this old rhyme, it will rain for forty days. If the day is dry, forty dry days will follow. It is Britain's best-known piece of summer weather lore.
Saint Swithin's Day
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 't will rain no more.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/saint-swithins-day/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 5 to 11 years
What Does Saint Swithin's Day Mean?
Saint Swithin's Day falls on 15 July. The rhyme claims that the weather on that one day decides the weather for the next forty: rain brings forty wet days, sunshine brings forty fine ones. Thou dost is old English for you do, and 'twill is short for it will.
History and Origin
Swithin was a bishop of Winchester in the ninth century. According to legend, when his remains were moved into the cathedral on 15 July many years after his death, a great storm broke and the rain went on for forty days. The rhyme was well known by the 1600s and is printed here from Walter Jerrold's Big Book of Nursery Rhymes (1903). British weather records have never shown that it works, but people still check the sky every 15 July.
Learning Activities
- Weather test: note the weather on 15 July, then keep a simple rain chart for the next forty days.
- Calendar hunt: find 15 July on a calendar and count forty days forward.
- Other weather sayings: compare it with When the Wind Is in the East and talk about which sayings might have some truth.