Saint Swithin’s Day, the feast day of Saint Swithin, is held in England on July 15. Swithin, also spelled Swithun, was bishop of Winchester and the trusted adviser of Ethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. Ethelwulf made him bishop in about A.D. 852. Saint Swithin’s name is commemorated by this rhyme:
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.
