The Lash of St. Francis (October 4th)

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows"

― St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis and the legendary wolf of Gubbio.

For the past two weeks I’ve been looking for some information about the Lash of St. Francis (Cordonazo de San Francisco in Spanish). Everything related to this atmospheric event is more or less the same, although there are some differences in explanations when reading posts in Spanish and in English. Let’s start explaining first what the Lash of St. Francis is and also who St. Francis was, so I can give you not only the scientific explanation found in English posts, but also the superstitious beliefs (found in the Spanish posts) of this storm.

The Lash of St. Francis indicates the end of wet season, which occurs by the autumnal equinox. It brings strong winds, heavy rain, thunders and lightning bolts. It happens suddenly and can last for some hours. The countries affected by these storms are Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Mexico. The scientific explanation says that the first week of October there is a major occurrence of sunbeams over the planet’s surface, forming clouds of vertical growing (Cumulunimbus) that cause the thunderstorm.

Saint Francis of Assisi is the protector of animals and environment according to Catholic Church. His feast day is commemorated on October 4th each year.  This day, animals receive blessings in ceremonies held by priests in open spaces as parks and squares. It is very traditional and people bring their pets to get a spray of blessed water.

Now the superstitious explanations (which I prefer more) for the Lash of Saint Francis, several versions try to explain its origin. These are:

• St. Francis wants to play with the clouds, so he hits them with his cord/belt to get rid of their water, producing lots of rain, lightning and thunders.

• Another version says that St. Francis is the water administrator in this planet, something like a water manager. Tired of working with water and being wet all the time, he decides to rest until the next rainy season, so he unties his cord on 4^th of October and shake his habit until the last drop falls over the earth.

• It’s also said that by the time St. Francis was alive, the devil appeared to him in several occasions to hurt the Saint. What St. Francis used to do to get rid of him was to lash the devil with his cord, which caused big storms, thunders and lightning flashes that made the devil run to hell.

These are the versions I heard in Venezuela about the origin of this storm, and I found these same explanations are common among the countries that experience the Lash of St. Francis, which generally happens the first week of October, not exactly the 4th, but it can happen this day of course.

The Lash of St. Francis over Caracas, Venezuela. Source: Noticias24.