August 1st is known as Lammas Day. Lammas is now recognised as a Christian holy day, and is celebrated by the church as such.
‘Lammas’ was the medieval Christian name for the holiday and it means ‘loaf-mass’, as the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings. In mediaeval times the feast was known as the “Gule of August” but the meaning of “gule” is unclear. It has been suggested that it may be an Anglicisation of Gŵyl Awst, the Welsh name for August 1 meaning “Feast of August”.
Traditionally, Lammas marked the end of the growing season and the success of the harvests determined the quality of life through the long winter months. The Celtic harvest season, occurring ¼ of a year after Beltane, began when the first crops were gathered at Lughnasadh, named after the Celtic sun god Lugh.
Corn dollies made from the straw of the first harvest would be kept safe through the winter and then buried in the spring with the sowing of the fields.
Lynne Allbutt – From the Archive.
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