Happy Lammas Day!

Today, 1 August, is Lammas Day.

Taken from The Old Farmers 2007 Almanac
'Lammas Day (August 1): Derived from the Old English half maesse, meaning "loaf mass", Lammas Day marked the beginning of the harvest. Traditionally, loaves of bread were baked from the first-ripened grain and brought to the churches to be consecrated. Eventually, "loaf mass" became "Lammas". In Scotland, Lammastide fairs became famous as the time when trial marriages could be made. These marriages could end after a year with no strings attached.'

Wikipedia: In English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day (loaf-mass day), the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first, or the sixth, of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (d. 604) specifies the sixth.

In mediæval times the feast was known as the "Gule of August", but the meaning of "gule" is unknown. It may be an Anglicisation of gwyl aust, the Welsh name for August 1 meaning "feast of August", but this is not certain. If so, this points to a pre-Christian origin for Lammas among the Anglo-Saxons and a link to the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh. 'Gule' could also come from 'Geohhol' (Old English form of 'jule') and thus Lammas Day was the 'Jule of August'.

Neopaganism
Lammas is not considered an actual neopagan holiday, but a traditional British harvest festival.

Other uses
Lammas is one of the Scottish quarter days.
Lammas is also an Estonian/Finnish word and means sheep.

References
The Stations of the Sun, Ronald Hutton, Oxford 1996
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, "Come Lammas-eve at night shall she [Juliet] be fourteen."
'Publications of the Scottish Historical Society' 1964

All I know is Lughnasadh, as the Irish call it, means that we are in August and approaching the end of summer! After the summer comes Mabon, to usher us into the Autumn months, my favourite time of the year!
Yesterday was terrible for the most part, so let's hope the Lughnasadh good spirits stay with me for today!

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