St. Swithun’s Day, an old English holiday promising 40 days of sunshine if rain doesn’t fall on that date, has been celebrated for three decades by Utne Reader contributing editor Jon Spayde with Italian food and a night at the movies.

Huh, you might ask—what’s pasta got to do with British weather? Jon explains: 'In high school I decided that I wanted to have my own personal holiday. I remember seeing St. Swithun’s Day on a calendar and decided to make it mine.' When July 15 rolled around that summer, Jon was in Madison, Wisconsin, taking Japanese language classes. 'I thought

Discuss St. Swithun's Day. Click here: café.utne.com

about how holidays got invented,' he recalls. 'Something happens by accident and people decide to keep doing it. So I went to an Italian restaurant on State Street and went to the movies.'

Since then he’s celebrated St. Swithun’s on picnics, in fancy restaurants, with a kitchen full of friends at home—always heading out to a movie afterwards. Everyone ought to claim their own holiday, he says. 'St. Swithun’s started out as a funny name and a lark, but by now it represents many years of good memories.'

Discuss St. Swithun's Day in Cafe Utne: cafe.utne.com