Weather lore involves anticipating the weather. Using weather lore to predict the weather has been a principal concern of man since he crawled out of the swamp and will, no doubt, continue to be an obsession until his time on this planet ends. The very existence of Stone Age hunter-gatherers and Iron Age men depended on their ability to interpret changes in the rhythm of seasons accurately by observing the patterns of nature: the colour of the sky at dusk or dawn; the shape of clouds or the direction of the wind; the behaviour of animals and the migration of birds; the activity of insects and mammals; or a dearth or abundance of plant growth. Communities that got it right were the ones that survived, passing this vital knowledge on from generation to generation. We are all bedevilled by our ongoing concern about the weather, why do the weathermen always get it wrong? Using weather lore you could get it right yourself. PRIMITIVE START Our Neolithic ancestors, the first agriculturalists, increased their understanding of the weather by a detailed study of the cycle of the sun and moon and erecting stone circles, henges and monoliths (the ultimate symbols of prehistoric achievement) which were aligned to the winter and summer solstices, the equinoxes and lunar phenomena. Gradually, as a primitive calendar evolved, it became apparent that the weather conditions on certain days influenced the elements during the following few weeks. These observations were added to the existing Celtic seasonal festivals of Beltane (1May), Samhain (1 November), Imbolc (1February), and Lugnasadh (1 August) as occasions for worship of the sun gods or relevant sky deity for that particular day. USE SAINTS’ DAYS TO PREDICT THE WEATHER When Christian missionaries reached these islands in the first few centuries AD, they were faced with the task of transforming deep-rooted heathen practices into Christian dedications. Appreciating the significance of weather worship for the pagan population, the church began to attach saints’ names to the days of Celtic weather prophecy in order to align the two belief systems. The saints’ days of prediction became a calendar around which agriculture was planned and, as the river of history flowed through the centuries, generations of observant country people, sailors and fishermen added a mass of weather beliefs, sayings and adages. To help remember them, the majority took the form of rhyming coup-lets, which produced some of the most evocative prose and poetry in the English language. They became part of culture and education, and together they constitute a priceless treasury of folklore and weather lore that is a unique part of our national heritage. In the Fifties, my father still used heavy shire horses on the farm. His horseman, Jim Akehurst, was typical of the older generation of countryman who could recite the saints’ days of weather prophecy and monthly prediction by heart. In the front parlour of his cottage were three framed samplers, painstakingly stitched by his grandmother. Two catalogued all the days of prediction and how the … Continue reading Weather lore. How to predict the weather