Is It St. Swithin’s Day Already?
The history behind a minute Simpsons reference
“Kippers for breakfast, Helga? Is it St. Swithin’s Day already?”
Though I first saw The Simpsons episode “Bart of Darkness” when I was 9, Bart’s cockney accented request has stayed with me for the past 27 years. It’s one of many Simpsons references that went over my head as a kid and now, I’m going back to find the real story behind some of my favorite Simpsons moments.
What Is St. Swithin’s Day?
If you’re from the UK, this is probably obvious. But if you first saw the episode as a kid in pre-internet America (okay, not pre-internet, but in the “your parents let you use the internet, but not for long because we don’t want the phone tied up” age), this probably sounded like a made up British name to make Bart’s play sound all the more ridiculous.
But it’s real! St. Swithin’s Day is celebrated on July 15th every year and it’s basically the British equivalent of Groundhog’s Day. It seems fitting that the UK would predict weather with a saint while us Americans…
