OLD ENGLISH CUSTOMS - TODAY 1 AUGUST WE ARE CELEBRATING LAMMAS

FOLKLORE MEMORIES

The first day of August  was – and still in some countries - is ‘Lammas Day.’  To town dwellers, this means little, but to farmers, particularly in centuries past, Lammas-tidewas one of the most important times of the year.

Seeds sown in spring are the link between hope and fulfilment for the farmer, and because of the importance of good harvests for the very existence of human life, superstition invariably governed every aspect of the agricultural year.  As the year proceeds and the sun enters its old age – the golden months of autumn - the warmth of summer lingers a little longer. The ripening grains are followed by the eagerly anticipated fruits and vegetables.  This is the perfect time to give thanks to the earth for its bounty and beauty, 

 Old beliefs and superstition about country lore, taboos and rituals are deeply embodied in subconscious farming folk memory; origins often forgotten, but they still linger as part of the collective wisdom of agricultural communities. Traditionally, Lammas Day signalled the start of the harvest season, the time when the first crops were gathered.  In many countries, a similar tradition took place at this time. On the

Jewish spring holiday of Hag Habikurim (first fruits), also known as Shauvuot, farmers brought the first sheaves to the priest as a thanksgiving offering to God.  With grain stores running low, the start of a successful harvest season was eagerly anticipated.

Throughout much of Europe, Lammastide was also a traditional time of year for craft festivals and still is today in many British communities.  The medieval guilds would create elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright colours and ribbons, marching in parades and performing ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. In America, the small town or country fair echoes the Lammas tradition.  Their agricultural competitions and midway games resemble the ancient European festivals at which people gathered to pay homage to the land and the fruits of their labour. 

With the advent of Christianity in Britain, pagan rituals were officially replaced by church services or masses in which the first harvested grains were milled and baked into loaves of bread, taken to church, blessed and then offered as thanksgiving to God.  Lammas Day itself was a Christian holy day in Britain from Saxon until medieval times.  Bread from the first harvest was blessed in a church ceremony known as the “loaf mass”.  It was then shared among the congregation, as a symbol of communal thanks for a successful harvest.  “Lammas” derives from the Old English ‘half loaf’, and ‘maesse’ meaning a feast.