The saints and little summers of autumn
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Version 0 of 1. Spells of fine autumn weather used to be known as gossamer, a contraction of “goose summer”. The name was applied because this was when geese were eaten, having been fattened up in the previous months. These spells were notable for gossamer threads, the mass of fine spider webs which catch the sun in stubble fields on a bright autumn morning. Now gossamer is used only to describe fine threads rather than weather. According to folklore there could be several distinct spells of good weather in autumn, each named after the saint’s day it came closest to. St Luke’s Little Summer was said to last from 18 October to 28 October, and later on it might be followed by All Hallows Summer around Halloween on 31 October. After these came St Martin’s Summer around the saint’s day on 11 November. Needless to say, none of these little summers can be relied upon actually to appear in any given year. Not that our official summer is so reliable either. Other countries have similar traditions. In Greece, the Little Summer of St Demetrios is supposed to occur in the last two weeks of October, when sheep are led from summer pastures down to their winter grazing. A final burst of fine weather before the saint’s day on the 26th helps complete the long migration. To some, this marks the start of winter. As compensation, though, St Demetrios’s day is also when the first bottle of new wine is tasted. |