The miserable weather of the last few days has prompted me to recall the unique Irish weather phenomenon of Scairbhín na gCuach. This is the abrupt and dramatic succession of weather variations that take place between late April and early May each year. It is particularly noticed and commented on in the south-west corner of the country, especially Cork and Kerry but not so much here in Clare. The expert weather-watchers tell that the scairbhín occurs between April 15th and May 15th.
The arrival of the cuckoo coincides with the scairbhín and its mixed weather, hence its alternative name of garbh mí na gcuach – ‘the rough month of the cuckoo’. Fruit trees are just getting their first buds at this time and harsh weather is no help.
If the scairbhín was a person it would be considered somewhat idiosyncratic. The four-week period is often characterised by extreme and often contradictory fluctuations in weather. It is not unheard of to have mild sunny days, followed by cold wintry blasts, with intermittent pounding rain, possible hailstones, and then bright sunshine again, with a fanfare of rainbows.
As a long-standing weather phenomenon, it gets several mentions in the Schools Folklore Collection of the 1930’s:
‘Scairbhín na gcuach, garbh í agus fuar.’ (County Donegal)
‘Tugtar “An Scairbhín” ar an am ó lár an Aibreáin go dtí lár na Bealtaine.’ (County Kerry)
‘Tagann coighcís fúar garbh trí seachtmhain tar éis Lá Bealtaine agus “Scairbhín na gCuach” a tugtar air, agus deirtear “Scairbhín na gCuach is garbh a bhíonn agus is fuar.’ (County Cork).
As we all know and experience, there is a significant shift in weather patterns in recent decades. Consequently, there is something reassuring about the cuckoo’s lingering heritage weather, even if it is pounding my few remaining apple blossoms to shreds.
‘Scairbhín na gCuach
Garbh í agus fuar’
MH
