Lammas Day

The 1st of August Cowell. It is one of the Scotch quarter days, and is what is called a “conventional term.” Moz. & W. “This was one of the four great pagan festivals of Britain,, the others being on 1st November, 1st February, and 1st May. The festival of the Gule of August, as it ]ivas called, probably celebrated the realization of the first fruits of the earth, and more particularly that of the grain-harvest. When Christianity was introduced, the day continued to be observed as a festival on these grounds, and, from a loaf being the usual offering at church, the service, and consequently the day, came to be called Hlaf-m Mt, subsequently shortened into Lammas.... This we would call the rational definition of the word Lammas. There is another, but in our opinion utterly inadmissible, derivation, pointing to the custom of bringing a lamb on this day, as an offering to the cathedral church of York. Without doubt, this custom, which was purely locsil, would take its rise with reference to the term Lammas, after the true original signification of that word had been forgotten.” Chamb. Book of Days,

The lst of August. It is one of the Scotch quarter days, and is what is called a “conventional term.”