In Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, June 27 is Siebenschläfertag (Seven Sleepers Day). The weather on that day is supposed to determine the average weather of the next seven weeks. This is one of the most well-known bits of traditional farmers' weather lore

Weather lore

Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather.It has been a human desire for millennia to make accurate weather predictions. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes, and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the next day...

 remaining in today's Germany, but quite inaccurate in practice.

While it might seem that the name of the day refers to the Edible Dormouse

Edible dormouse

The edible dormouse or fat dormouse is a large dormouse and the only living species in the genus Glis.-Description:...

 (Glis glis), a rodent known as Siebenschläfer in German, it actually commemorates the Seven Sleepers

Seven Sleepers

The Seven Sleepers, commonly called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", refers to a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius...

 legend. Objections have been raised that the weather lore associated with the day might have arisen before the Gregorian reform

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...

, and as at this time the difference to the Julian calendar

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...

 amounted to ten days, July 7 would be the actual Seven Sleepers Day. Based on this date the prediction has a slightly increased probability, if confined to the southern parts of Germany not affected by the jet stream

Jet stream

Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...

, where the rule seems to have originated.

See also

• Groundhog Day, whose weather is supposed to predict the arrival of Spring
• Ice Saints
  Ice Saints
  The Ice Saints is the name given to St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius in Flemish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, German, Austrian, Polish, Swiss and Croatian folklore. They are so named because their feast days fall on the days of May 11, May 12, and May 13 respectively. In Flanders St....
  
  
• National Sleepy Head Day
  National Sleepy Head Day
  National Sleepy Head Day is celebrated in Finland on July 27 every year. Traditionally on this day, the last person in the house to wake up is woken up using water, either by being thrown into a lake or the sea, or by having water thrown on them...
  
   for the holiday in Finland
• Saint Swithun's Day
• Weather lore
  Weather lore
  Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather.It has been a human desire for millennia to make accurate weather predictions. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes, and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the next day...