Literal translation
It rains and the sun shines: the devil is beating his wife.
Meaning
sun and rain together: the devil is beating his wife
Explanation
This weather saying explains a disconcerting atmospheric phenomenon, rain falling while the sun shines, through a folk image. Lacking a scientific explanation passed down in everyday speech, folk wisdom resorts to a domestic and supernatural scene: the devil, a figure of disorder, beats his wife, and her tears fall to earth as rain while the sun, indifferent to the drama, keeps shining. The image thus combines a fanciful explanation of the phenomenon with an evocation, likely unconscious for those who repeat it, of domestic violence as the cause of natural disorder. The saying appears, in very similar forms, across several European languages, suggesting a shared stock of folk belief extending well beyond Provençal alone. It is used in an ordinary, generally amused register, right at the moment one observes this mix of rain and sunshine, with no real belief attached to it by today's speakers.