Our Irish ancestors, whom it is only fitting we should honour on St Patrick's Day, had time-honoured ways of telling what the weather had in store for them. The behaviour of the birds was very carefully watched. A robin, for example, could be either good or bad, depending on his early-morning mood. "Ma bhionn an spideog faoi thor ar maidin beidh se ina la fhliuch, ach ma bhionn si ar an gheag is airde, is i ag gabhail cheoil, beidh se ina la mhaith": "Rain is on the way if the robin hides beneath a bush at morning-time, but if he sings from the highest branch around, a pleasant day can be expected."
But if you really want to savour the collective weather wisdom of our forefathers in the vernacular, let me recommend to you a little book. Irish Weather Wisdom: Signs of Rain, by Gabriel Rosenstock, is beautifully illustrated by Rosemary Woods and was published last year by Appletree in Belfast. It is a small compendium of Irish weather sayings, each given in Irish and English, and which the blurb says "reveal in a fresh and altogether delightful way how climate, culture and landscape can blend in the mind of a people to create something unique". Unusually for the genre, the blurb is accurate. Let me quote a few examples.
Clouds, you may have noticed, vary with the weather. "Dea-aimsir bearradh na gcaorach; droch-aimsir cluimhreach gabhair": "Good weather clouds are like sheep's wool; bad weather clouds are like goats' hair." And then you may not have known, as I did not, that in Ireland long ago, a frog was called "the leprechaun of the ditch". "Deanfaidh se baisteach throm ma thagann leipreachan an chlai isteach sa chistin": "Rain will drench the land if the frog comes into the kitchen."
Flies, too, can tell about the weather: "Cuileanna ar uisce an tobair" is a good sign: "There will be good weather when flies gather on the water of a well." And so can fowl: "Ma fhanann na cearca amuigh in ndiaigh gabhail o sholas beidh an la amarach go hainnis": "Tomorrow will be a miserable day if the hens stay out after dark." And another saying describes angry clouds around the moon - or perhaps the reference is to a lunar halo. "Garrai na gealai - baisteach":
"A garden around the moon means rain soon." Irish Weather Wisdom: Signs of Rain is only £7.99, and well worth every penny. More Weather Eye on Monday - le cunamh De agus na dea-uaine: "With the help of God and fine weather."