WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Jul 15
St. Swithin's Day
The Weathercock
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"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"
~ Traditional
Will the weather cooperate with your next Scottish country dance? If you believe the old weather folklore, July 15—St. Swithin's Day—is the day to find out!
St. Swithin served as Bishop of Winchester from AD 852 to 862. At his own request, he was buried outside the church, where rain and the footsteps of passersby could fall upon his grave. According to legend, when his remains were moved inside Winchester Cathedral on July 15, 971, a tremendous storm broke out! From that sprang the famous saying that if it rains on St. Swithin's Day, the wet weather will continue for many days to come. Whether you put much stock in the legend or not, it has been part of British weather lore for over a thousand years.
If you'd rather make your own weather forecast, dance the Weathercock, a lively four-couple jig devised by Veronica Hughes, that pays attention to north, south, east and west winds! As the wind-blown dancers change direction and balance in line, you have your very own human weathervane—no rooftop required!
Roosters became the traditional weather vane because they symbolize vigilance and were adopted by many medieval churches after the cock's role in the story of St. Peter's denial of Christ. Other historic weather vanes have featured horses, dragons, ships, lions, fish, eagles, and even running deer. Today, however, you can top your roof with just about anything imaginable—from cats, cows, pigs, squirrels, and whales to tractors, airplanes, golfers, sailboats, witches on broomsticks, flying geese, or even a Highland piper.
Whatever points into the wind, may it also point you toward good dancing weather! 🕺 💃 🐓 🐓 🐓 ☔ ☔ ☔ 🌞 🌞 🌞 🗓️
The Weathercock
Weather vanes, also known as wind vanes or weathercocks have typically been used as an architectural ornaments at highest point of a building and have featured at the top of many European churches.
Weathercocks often featuring the traditional cockerel design with letters indicating the points of the compass, hence the name.
Theories about the origin of weathercocks on church steeples include the symbolic representation of clergy calling the people to prayer for the new day.
In the 9th century, it was decreed that all churches must show the symbol of a cock on the dome or steeple, as a symbol of Jesus' prophecy that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed on the morning following the Last Supper.
In the Bayeux Tapestry of the 1070s, there is a depiction of a man installing a cock on Westminster Abbey. See below.
The oldest weather vane with the shape of a rooster existing at the world is the Gallo di Ramperto, made in 820 and now preserved in the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, Lombardy.
Whether your weather this month is sunny or stormy, and no matter which way the wind is blowing, consider a "Damn the Weather" cocktail of vermouth, gin, orange juice and triple sec, by clicking the picture below for the recipe.
See a performance of The Weathercock below, at the Newcastle Festival, by the Newcastle RSCDS, 2013.
And to examine the Bayeux tapestry in more detail, click it!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
