dorset weather lore. 143 



Christmas. 



(i.) Similar to the last is one referable to Christmas : 

 " If the ice will bear a horse before Christmas it 

 won't bear a duck after." 



(ii.) "A light Christmas, light harvest." 



" Light " here presumably refers to a mild Christmas. 



(iii.) The same consequences of unseasonably mild 

 weather, as already expressed as prevailing at 

 Candlemas (iii.) is, with regard to Christmas, shewn 

 by the following : — " If the sun shines on Christmas 

 Day it will snow on Candlemas Day." 



(iv.) The same idea is more graphically expressed, 

 perhaps, in this variant of the aphorism : " How 

 far the sun is within the stall on Christmas Day, so 

 far the snow will be on Candlemas Day." 



(v.) As a West Country variant of the common saying 

 that " A green Christmas makes a fat churchyard," 

 Mr. Norris gives the following as indicating the 

 fatal effects of a trying spring on the constitutions 

 of the sick and aged who have survived a mild 

 winter — " Ev a chich'ard da look lik' a pastur' veel 

 " 'pon C'ursmas Day '11 look lik' a plow'd veel avoa 

 " Medzumma Day." 



(vi.) He also gives the following : — " Dree whit' 

 vrauses (frosts) vollerin' avore C'ursmas '11 bring 

 rain," a saying not by any means peculiar to Dorset 

 or even the West Country. 



Particular Days of the Week. 



(i.) The weather obtaining on particular days of the 

 week has been made the subject of note or observa- 

 tion. In Dorset it is said that " Friday and the 

 rest of the week are never alike," referring to the 

 exceptionable weather usually met with on a Friday, 

 (ii.) And sometimes it takes the form, in connection 

 with other counties, of " Like Friday, like Sunday." 



