Folklore is fun to read and fascinating to think how all those old beliefs got started. Or, maybe they weren’t really beliefs, just something to hang onto to try to make sense of nature. Anyway, here are a few having to do with rain or storms. By the way, this is St. Swithin’s Day. Who was St. Swithin? It might be fun to look him up and find out how long ago he lived and how his legend got started in the first place. I kind of like the one about the persimmon seeds.

“A moon lying on its back is a dry moon. You can hang your hat on its horns.”

“No lightning will strike a barn that shelters swallows.”

“If it rains on St. Swithins Day (July 15), 40 days of rain will follow. If St. Swithins is fair, 40 days of fair weather.”

“High ant hills means a hard winter will follow.”

“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight; red sky of morning, sailors take warning.”

“A sunshiny shower won’t last an hour.”

“Persimmon seeds, when cracked open can predict whether the winter will have a lot of snow. A kernel that looks like a spoon means heavy snow, knife means icy cutting wind and fork means powdery, light snow.”

“When flies are sticky and bite, rain is on the way.”

“When robins don’t fly high, bad weather is coming.”