- FOLKLORE -
My grandmother must have had a rhyme or saying for every occasion - one I heard regularly during my formative years was
"A whistling girl and a crowing hen
Make the devil dance in his den"
or her other popular variation on the theme - "When a woman whistles, the devil dances," echoing an age-old disapproval of an "unfeminine" habit.
She also greeted every event, change in the weather etc., with an appropriate rhyme, so I have tried to recall as many as I can and write them down. Most of these rhymes are very commonly known and many have a logical interpretation, so I have listed them as "yes" - basically true - "no" - decidedly untrue - and "maybe" - either partly true, or who can tell?
WEATHER LORE
Red sky at night, sailors' delight
Red sky in the morning - sailors take warning.
YES - basically true. The red of the sunset and sunrise is caused by moisture particles in the atmosphere : British weather tends come in from the west on the prevailing winds, so the moisture in a sunset sky is already well on its way and will pass over in the night, to the relief of sailors (or shepherds, depending on how far from the sea you are!) Conversely, a red morning sky is caused by moist air already well past and, given the frequency of change in the British weather, a fine morning will give way to a wet and windy afternoon!
Rain before seven
Stopped by eleven
YES - similar to the red sky - given the size of the British Isles and the average wind speed, weather systems usually take around four hours to pass through. So, if it's raining before seven, the low pressure system causing the rain will have passed over in the next four hours.
St. Swithun's Day, if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain na mair;
St. Swithun's Day, if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain.
MAYBE - only partly true: St. Swithun was a ninth-century English monk and Bishop of Winchester who died around 862 AD. According to legend, his last wish was that he could be buried under the churchyard path, where everyone going to and from the church would walk over his grave. The clergy did not think it was appropriate and soon removed his body and re-buried him within the church, whereupon it began to pour with rain, day and night, until there was serious danger of flooding. The rain did not stop until Swithun was buried outside once more, according to his wishes. St. Swithun's Day is on July 15th, which is usually in a period of reasonably settled weather, and if it is wet on St. Swithun's Day the chances are that we are in for a long wet spell, and likewise a dry spell in the middle of July is likely to last - but forty days of unbroken sunshine? In England? Never! (St. Swithun is the Patron Saint of drought relief!)
When the swallows fly high
The weather will be dry.
YES - swallows live on a diet of insects, which they catch on the wing. In fine weather these insects will be swept upwards by thermal currents, making the swallows fly higher in order to catch them.
Oak before the Ash, then we'll only have a splash
Ash before the Oak, then we're sure to have a soak.
YES - don't ask me why, but this one does seem to be substantially true: I expect it's tied in to rainfall and temperatures in spring being a predictor of summer weather. The Oak and the Ash are two distictive trees of lowland Britain, and the rhyme refers to the order in which they come into leaf. On the whole, we hope that the oak leaves will appear first!
A frond of seaweed hung outside will predict the weather.
YES - of course it will. If it's wet, it's raining, if it's dry, it isn't raining. In reality, a fresh frond of seaweed is hygroscopic - it absorbs moisture out of the atmosphere. So, if the air is moist, as before rain, the seaweed will feel damp and supple.
There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
MAYBE - but have you, or anyone you know, ever managed to get to the end of a rainbow? Rainbows are caused by the refraction of sunlight by raindrops and occur when you stand with your back to the sun, between the sun and the rain. As you move towards the rainbow, it will always recede and you can never get to it - and when viewed from a plane, you will see that a rainbow is in fact a perfect circle with no beginning and no end.
WILDLIFE LORE
The cuckoo sings in April,
The cuckoo sings in May,
The cuckoo sings in part of June and then she flies away.
NO - "she" doesn't sing at all. The familiar "cuckoo" call is made by the male bird, who, typical of the male of the species, makes all the noise and fuss whilst his mate gets on quietly with the business of laying her eggs in other birds' nests. Her call is a quiet gurgling noise, much less commonly heard or recognised.
Cuckoos are migratory birds which very sensibly spend our winter in the South African summer, returning each spring to breed. The "first cuckoo of spring" is a traditional subject for letters to the Editor of local and national newspapers; usually, cuckoos are first heard in March and they cease to sing by June although in fact they often stay around until August, stocking up on insects and grubs before beginning their long flight south again.
In April, come she will;
In May she will stay;
In June she'll change her tune;
In July she will fly
In August, fly she must.
YES - apart from the proviso concerning him/her and the cuckoo's song mentioned above. The last of the cuckoos will have arrived by April and in May their egg-laying exploits will be in full swing. By June, the male cuckoo has ceased to look for a mate and stops calling, allowing the different call of the female to be heard. A few cuckoos start their migratory flight southwards at the end of July, especially if the weather is not too good, and they will all have left by the end of August. Simon and Garfunkel adapted this old rhyme and set it to music, but I don't think they were referring to a cuckoo in their version.
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
YES - honey bees swarm when a new queen hatches and takes half of the hive's worker bees off with her to found a new colony. This new beehive will need all of the summer to establish itself and to build up sufficient food supplies to see it through the winter months. Thus, a swarm which leaves the hive early in the year is likely to succeed and so is prized by beekeepers.
You must always tell the bees if there has been a death in the family,
or else they will leave the hive and fly away.
NO - the bees cannot hear you. If you neglect your bees due to bereavement or some other family upset, they may well take exception and leave and won't necessarily stay just because you warned them in advance!
"Bicarbonate for Bees, Vinegar for Vasps."
YES and NO - a useful mnemonic when it comes to treating stings, the theory behind it being that bee stings are acidic and wasps stings alkaline: this is an over-simplification as both have complex venom. A paste of bicarbonate of soda will help cool the site of a sting, from either species - for proper first-aid instructions, click here.
Two swallows do not a summer make
YES - the swallow is a migratory bird which arrives in large numbers once the threat of really cold weather has passed. They do not, however, all arrive at once, and occasionally a few stragglers will arrive early or leave late.
If you kiss a toad it will turn into a handsome prince
NO - unforunately not, which is a pity because I don't mind toads. There is, however a great deal of truth in the saying that you have to kiss an awful lot of toads before you find your handsome prince.