Template:Short description Template:For multi
Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#switch:1 August|January 1|January 2|January 3|January 4|January 5|January 6|January 7|January 8|January 9|January 10|January 11|January 12|January 13|January 14|January 15|January 16|January 17|January 18|January 19|January 20|January 21|January 22|January 23|January 24|January 25|January 26|January 27|January 28|January 29|January 30|January 31|February 1|February 2|February 3|February 4|February 5|February 6|February 7|February 8|February 9|February 10|February 11|February 12|February 13|February 14|February 15|February 16|February 17|February 18|February 19|February 20|February 21|February 22|February 23|February 24|February 25|February 26|February 27|February 28|February 29|February 30|February 31|March 1|March 2|March 3|March 4|March 5|March 6|March 7|March 8|March 9|March 10|March 11|March 12|March 13|March 14|March 15|March 16|March 17|March 18|March 19|March 20|March 21|March 22|March 23|March 24|March 25|March 26|March 27|March 28|March 29|March 30|March 31|April 1|April 2|April 3|April 4|April 5|April 6|April 7|April 8|April 9|April 10|April 11|April 12|April 13|April 14|April 15|April 16|April 17|April 18|April 19|April 20|April 21|April 22|April 23|April 24|April 25|April 26|April 27|April 28|April 29|April 30|April 31|May 1|May 2|May 3|May 4|May 5|May 6|May 7|May 8|May 9|May 10|May 11|May 12|May 13|May 14|May 15|May 16|May 17|May 18|May 19|May 20|May 21|May 22|May 23|May 24|May 25|May 26|May 27|May 28|May 29|May 30|May 31|June 1|June 2|June 3|June 4|June 5|June 6|June 7|June 8|June 9|June 10|June 11|June 12|June 13|June 14|June 15|June 16|June 17|June 18|June 19|June 20|June 21|June 22|June 23|June 24|June 25|June 26|June 27|June 28|June 29|June 30|June 31|July 1|July 2|July 3|July 4|July 5|July 6|July 7|July 8|July 9|July 10|July 11|July 12|July 13|July 14|July 15|July 16|July 17|July 18|July 19|July 20|July 21|July 22|July 23|July 24|July 25|July 26|July 27|July 28|July 29|July 30|July 31|August 1|August 2|August 3|August 4|August 5|August 6|August 7|August 8|August 9|August 10|August 11|August 12|August 13|August 14|August 15|August 16|August 17|August 18|August 19|August 20|August 21|August 22|August 23|August 24|August 25|August 26|August 27|August 28|August 29|August 30|August 31|September 1|September 2|September 3|September 4|September 5|September 6|September 7|September 8|September 9|September 10|September 11|September 12|September 13|September 14|September 15|September 16|September 17|September 18|September 19|September 20|September 21|September 22|September 23|September 24|September 25|September 26|September 27|September 28|September 29|September 30|September 31|October 1|October 2|October 3|October 4|October 5|October 6|October 7|October 8|October 9|October 10|October 11|October 12|October 13|October 14|October 15|October 16|October 17|October 18|October 19|October 20|October 21|October 22|October 23|October 24|October 25|October 26|October 27|October 28|October 29|October 30|October 31|November 1|November 2|November 3|November 4|November 5|November 6|November 7|November 8|November 9|November 10|November 11|November 12|November 13|November 14|November 15|November 16|November 17|November 18|November 19|November 20|November 21|November 22|November 23|November 24|November 25|November 26|November 27|November 28|November 29|November 30|November 31|December 1|December 2|December 3|December 4|December 5|December 6|December 7|December 8|December 9|December 10|December 11|December 12|December 13|December 14|December 15|December 16|December 17|December 18|December 19|December 20|December 21|December 22|December 23|December 24|December 25|December 26|December 27|December 28|December 29|December 30|December 31=|{{#switch:1 August|1 January|2 January|3 January|4 January|5 January|6 January|7 January|8 January|9 January|10 January|11 January|12 January|13 January|14 January|15 January|16 January|17 January|18 January|19 January|20 January|21 January|22 January|23 January|24 January|25 January|26 January|27 January|28 January|29 January|30 January|31 January|1 February|2 February|3 February|4 February|5 February|6 February|7 February|8 February|9 February|10 February|11 February|12 February|13 February|14 February|15 February|16 February|17 February|18 February|19 February|20 February|21 February|22 February|23 February|24 February|25 February|26 February|27 February|28 February|29 February|30 February|31 February|1 March|2 March|3 March|4 March|5 March|6 March|7 March|8 March|9 March|10 March|11 March|12 March|13 March|14 March|15 March|16 March|17 March|18 March|19 March|20 March|21 March|22 March|23 March|24 March|25 March|26 March|27 March|28 March|29 March|30 March|31 March|1 April|2 April|3 April|4 April|5 April|6 April|7 April|8 April|9 April|10 April|11 April|12 April|13 April|14 April|15 April|16 April|17 April|18 April|19 April|20 April|21 April|22 April|23 April|24 April|25 April|26 April|27 April|28 April|29 April|30 April|31 April|1 May|2 May|3 May|4 May|5 May|6 May|7 May|8 May|9 May|10 May|11 May|12 May|13 May|14 May|15 May|16 May|17 May|18 May|19 May|20 May|21 May|22 May|23 May|24 May|25 May|26 May|27 May|28 May|29 May|30 May|31 May|1 June|2 June|3 June|4 June|5 June|6 June|7 June|8 June|9 June|10 June|11 June|12 June|13 June|14 June|15 June|16 June|17 June|18 June|19 June|20 June|21 June|22 June|23 June|24 June|25 June|26 June|27 June|28 June|29 June|30 June|31 June|1 July|2 July|3 July|4 July|5 July|6 July|7 July|8 July|9 July|10 July|11 July|12 July|13 July|14 July|15 July|16 July|17 July|18 July|19 July|20 July|21 July|22 July|23 July|24 July|25 July|26 July|27 July|28 July|29 July|30 July|31 July|1 August|2 August|3 August|4 August|5 August|6 August|7 August|8 August|9 August|10 August|11 August|12 August|13 August|14 August|15 August|16 August|17 August|18 August|19 August|20 August|21 August|22 August|23 August|24 August|25 August|26 August|27 August|28 August|29 August|30 August|31 August|1 September|2 September|3 September|4 September|5 September|6 September|7 September|8 September|9 September|10 September|11 September|12 September|13 September|14 September|15 September|16 September|17 September|18 September|19 September|20 September|21 September|22 September|23 September|24 September|25 September|26 September|27 September|28 September|29 September|30 September|31 September|1 October|2 October|3 October|4 October|5 October|6 October|7 October|8 October|9 October|10 October|11 October|12 October|13 October|14 October|15 October|16 October|17 October|18 October|19 October|20 October|21 October|22 October|23 October|24 October|25 October|26 October|27 October|28 October|29 October|30 October|31 October|1 November|2 November|3 November|4 November|5 November|6 November|7 November|8 November|9 November|10 November|11 November|12 November|13 November|14 November|15 November|16 November|17 November|18 November|19 November|20 November|21 November|22 November|23 November|24 November|25 November|26 November|27 November|28 November|29 November|30 November|31 November|1 December|2 December|3 December|4 December|5 December|6 December|7 December|8 December|9 December|10 December|11 December|12 December|13 December|14 December|15 December|16 December|17 December|18 December|19 December|20 December|21 December|22 December|23 December|24 December|25 December|26 December|27 December|28 December|29 December|30 December|31 December=|}}}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox holiday with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| alt | begins | caption | celebrations | date | date2007 | date2008 | date2009 | date2010 | date2011 | date2012 | date2013 | date2014 | date2015 | date2016 | date2017 | date2018 | date2019 | date2020 | date2021 | date2022 | date2023 | date2024 | date2025 | date2025 | date2026 | date2027 | date2028 | date2029 | date2030 | duration | ends | firsttime | frequency | holiday_name | image | image_size | imagesize | lasttime | litcolor | longtype | mdy | month | nickname | observances | observedby | official_name | relatedto | scheduling | significance | startedby | type | week_ordinal | weekday }} Lammas (from Old English hlāfmæsse, "loaf-mass"), also known as Loaf Mass Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries Template:Citation needed span on 1 August. The name originates from the word "loaf" in reference to bread and "Mass" in reference to the Eucharist.<ref name="Gandolphy1815">Template:Cite book</ref> It is a festival in the liturgical calendar to mark the blessing of the First Fruits of harvest, with a loaf of bread being brought to the church for this purpose.<ref name="Irvine1919">Template:Cite book</ref> Lammastide falls at the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox.<ref name="Daniel">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CoE2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Christians also have church processions to bakeries, where those working therein are blessed by Christian clergy.<ref name="Sherborne2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
While Lammas is traditionally a Christian holy day, some neopagans have adopted the name and date for one of their harvest festivals in their Wheel of the Year. It is also the same date as the Gaelic harvest festival Lughnasadh.<ref name="Crumm2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NameEdit
The name 'Lammas' comes from Old English {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meaning "loaf mass".<ref name="Hutton">Template:Cite book</ref>
Several antiquarians suggested that the name 'Lammas' came from 'lamb mass'. John Brady<ref>Brady, Clavis Calendaris, 1812, etc. s.v. "Lammas-Day".</ref> supposed that tenants of the Cathedral of York, dedicated to St Peter in Chains, of which this is the feast, were required to bring a live lamb to the church.<ref>Reported without comment in John Brand, Henry Ellis, J.O. Halliwell-Phillips, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, new ed. 1899: vol. I, s.v. "Lammas".</ref>
Another name for the feast in the Middle Ages was the 'Gule of August'.<ref>J. P. Bacon Phillips, inquiring the significance of "gule", "Lammas-Day and the Gule of August", Notes and Queries, 2 August 1930:83.</ref> It has been suggested, following the 18th-century Welsh clerical antiquary John Pettingall,<ref>Pettingall, in Archaeologia or, Miscellaneous tracts, relating to antiquity... (Society of Antiquaries of London), 2:67.</ref> that this is an anglicisation of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Welsh for "feast of August".<ref name="Hutton"/>
HistoryEdit
In Christianity, the offering of first fruits to God has a history, as in the Old Testament, "when the harvest ripened the priest went into the field and gathered a sheaf of first-ripened grain. Then he took that sheaf into the temple and waved it before the Lord."<ref name="Rogers2003">Template:Cite book</ref> The Didache of the early Church enjoined firstfruits be given of "money, clothes, and all of your possessions" (13:7).<ref name="Elwell2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
In Anglo-Saxon England Lammas was the name for the first day of August and was described in Old English literature as "the feast of first fruits", being mentioned often in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.<ref name="Hutton"/> It was probably the day when loaves baked from the first of the wheat harvest were blessed at church.<ref name="Hutton"/> The loaves might then have been used in protective rituals:<ref name="Homans">Homans, George (1961). English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century, 2nd ed. 1991. p.371.</ref> a book of Anglo-Saxon charms directed that the Lammas loaf be broken into four parts, which were to be placed at the four corners of the barn, to protect the grain.<ref name="Hutton"/>
For many villeins, the wheat must have run low in the days before Lammas, and the new harvest began a season of plenty, of hard work and company in the fields, reaping in teams.<ref name="Homans"/> In the medieval agricultural year, Lammas also marked the end of the hay harvest that had begun after Midsummer. At the end of hay-making a sheep would be loosed in the meadow among the mowers, for him to keep who could catch it.<ref name="Homans"/>
Historian Ronald Hutton writes "the time that the first of the harvest could be gathered would have been a natural point for celebration in an agrarian society".<ref name="Hutton"/> He says it is likely "that a pre-Christian festival had existed among the Anglo-Saxons on that date".<ref name="Hutton"/> Folklorist Máire MacNeill linked Lammas with the Insular Celtic harvest festival Lughnasadh, held on the same date, and suggested the Anglo-Saxons adopted it from the Celtic Britons.<ref name="Hutton"/> She highlighted the apparent lack of a Continental Germanic festival on 1 August, and the apparent borrowing of the Welsh name Gŵyl Awst, 'Gule of August'.<ref name="Hutton"/> However, Hutton says that "MacNeill's thesis of a pan-Celtic seasonal ritual, like her reconstruction of pagan rites, is so far un-proven" and to prove it "would involve a detailed knowledge of the religious calendar of the Anglo-Saxons before they arrived in England, which is impossible".<ref name="Hutton"/>
Lammas Day was one of the traditional Scottish quarter days before 1886. Lammas also coincided with the feast of St Peter in Chains, commemorating Saint Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison, but in the liturgical reform of 1969 the feast of St Alphonsus Liguori was transferred to this day.<ref name="Daniel"/>
Ann Lewin explains the Christian feast of Lammas (Loaf Mass Day) and its importance in the liturgical year:<ref name="Lewin2011"/> Template:Quotation
Today, in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican Communion, during the celebration of Holy Communion, "The Lammas loaf, or part of it, may be used as the bread of the Eucharist, or the Lammas loaf and the eucharistic bread may be kept separate."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Common Worship specifies:<ref name="Common Worship"/> Template:Quotation
Christians also have church processions to bakeries, where those working therein are blessed by Christian clergy.<ref name="Sherborne2023"/>
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1.3.19) it is observed of Juliet, "Come Lammas Eve at night shall she [Juliet] be fourteen." Another well-known cultural reference is the opening of The Battle of Otterburn: "It fell about the Lammas tide when the muir-men win their hay."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Other usesEdit
NeopaganismEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Some neopagans have adopted the name and date of Lammas, making it one of the harvest festivals in their Wheel of the Year. Other neopagans use the Gaelic name Lughnasa. It is the first of the three autumn festivals, the others being the autumn equinox and Samhain. In the Northern Hemisphere it takes place around 1 August, while in the Southern Hemisphere it is celebrated around 1 February.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Page needed
HorticultureEdit
Lammas leaves or Lammas growth refers to a second crop of leaves produced in high summer by some species of trees in temperate countries to replace those lost to insect damage.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They often differ slightly in shape, texture and/or hairiness from the earlier leaves. <ref>Guinness, Bunny (16 Aug 2006). "Late summer growth". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 2009-06-03.</ref>
Exeter in Devon is one of the few towns in England that still celebrates its Lammas Fair and has a processional custom which stretches back over 900 years, led by the Lord Mayor. During the fair a white glove on a pole decorated with garlands is raised above the Guildhall. The fair now takes place on the first Thursday in July.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A low-impact development project at Tir y Gafel, Glandwr, Pembrokeshire,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lammas Ecovillage, is a collective initiative for nine self-built homes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was the first such project to obtain planning permission based on a predecessor of what is now the sixth national planning guidance<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for sustainable rural communities originally proposed by the One Planet Council.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
- In the Inspector Morse episode "Day of the Devil", Lammas Day is presented as a Satanic (un)holy day, "the Devil's day".<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
- Lammas is a prominent plot point in the novel, Lammas Night (1983) by Katherine Kurtz.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Lammastide - The Church of England
- The God in the Bread: A Sermon for Lammas - Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
- Lammas-tide by Leigh Hatts - Walking the Pilgrims' Way
- "A Little History of Lammas" - A Clerk of Oxford
Template:Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Template:English festivals Template:Wheel of the Year