Tag: saints

ordinary days

My mother mentioned that yesterday was St Andrew’s Day, adding that this meant that there would be no more “special days” until Christmas.

Well, I may have been brought up a Protestant, but I lived in Spain long enough to know that that couldn’t be right: every day seems to be the feast day of a dozen or more saints in the Catholic calendar, so I headed off to Google to find out more about St Andrew, as well as what other dates may be coming up that I should pay attention to.
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after michaelmas

michaelmas daisies
The Michaelmas daisies have been in flower for weeks, but that’s a poor excuse for having completely forgotten that it was Michaelmas – the Feast of St Michael and all Angels – on September 29th.
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St Swithin’s Day

St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’twill rain nae mair

Judging from the colour of the sky behind the apples, we’re in for a long hot summer.

granny smith apples on the tree
Mind you, the (Spanish) Catholic santoral doesn’t seem to list the very English St Swithin, so perhaps it doesn’t count here.

Instead they tell me today is San Buenaventura, a saint known for his “simplicity, humility and charity”. Since he seems unlikely to provide the rain needed for apple christening, perhaps it’s just as well we fixed the tap in the orchard at the weekend.