Happy St. Swithun's Day!

St. Swithun, considered the "weather saint", was the Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. He was incredibly learned and a tutor to kings. He was known for his humility and built several churches in areas which were in need of them.

Legend has it that one day, a peasant girl was crossing a bridge and a workmen upset her, causing her basket of eggs to crash to the ground. St. Swithun miraculously restored the eggs.

Upon his death, St. Swithun had requested that his remains be buried outside the cathedral. 100 years later when the cathedral was rebuilt, and his remains were to be enshrined within, a terrible rain storm came, lasting for over a month and the project was abandoned until the storm passed.

We are now left with this verse:

"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 na mair."

Taking from the festival book, "All Year Round", we are making a "weather tree" in which one leaf is colored each day representing the current weather outside - each month being marked with the proper number of days to celebrate this day! I hope to post a picture of our finished tree next year :)

And since we don't eat eggs, I made a nice egg free white bread in honor of St. Swithun :)

A quick blurb on him can be found here.