St John’s Day. Forecasting the Weather. December 27th

On the third day of Christmas
My true love sent to me:
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Folklore is full of risible methods of forecasting the future and Gervase Markham’s ‘The English Husbandman of 1635 is no exception. He says:

‘What weather shall be on the sixth and twentieth day of December, the like weather will be all the month of January.’

Then and so on for the 12 days of Christmas. Please note that he numbers the 12 days from the 26th, not as I have done from the 25th. I deal with this in one of the forthcoming posts.

So the weather today, the 27th will be the weather ‘the following February’ if you follow Markham, or March if you follow me, and so on until the 12th Day when that will give you the weather on December 2025.

According to Gervase’s method, then weather in early 2025 will be unusually warm.

This is St, John’s Day, he who was loved by Jesus and wrote the Gospel making him the patron saint of booksellers, publishers, printers and writers. Lecterns in the Church of England are normally shaped as an Eagle as this is the symbol of St John, as a writer of grace and power, and a messenger of Authority from God.

John the Evangelist was identified as John the Apostle.  In the Gospel, an unnamed disciple is called ‘the disciple who Jesus loved’ who is also said to have ‘borne witness and wrote’ the gospel according to John.  There are also three letters attributed to the same author, as well as the Book of Revelations. It is still a controversial subject, but Revelations is generally thought to be by a different John.  John He was not martyred.

Remember, on 1st January 7.30 I am doing my annual ‘Ring in the New Year’ virtual walk where I look at all things new year. To see more details click here:

First Published in December 2021, revised and republished in December 2023, 2024