View source for Lammas

{{Short description|Christian holiday marking the blessing of First Fruits}}
{{for multi|the village in England|Lammas, Norfolk|the summer growth of trees|Lammas growth|the festival celebrated by some neopagans also occasionally called Lammas|Lughnasadh}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox holiday
|holiday_name  = Lammas<br/><small>Loaf Mass Day</small>
|type          = Christian
|longtype      = Christian 
|image         = File:Brot 2010 11 07 000.JPG
|caption       = A [[loaf]] of bread
|observedby    = [[Christians]] ([[Catholics]], [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], [[Anglicans]])<ref name="Lewin2011">{{cite book |last1=Lewin |first1=Ann |title=Seasons of Grace: Inspirational Resources for the Christian Year |date=2011 |publisher=Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd |isbn=978-1-84825-090-1 |page=222 |language=en |quote=August begins with Lammas Day, Loaf Mass Day, the day in the Book of Common Prayer calendar when a loaf baked with flour from newly harvested corn would be brought into church and blessed. It's one of the oldest points of contact between the agricultural world and the Church. The others were Plough Sunday in early January, the Sunday after Epiphany and the day before work would begin again in the fields after Christmas festivities, when ploughs would be brought to church to be blessed; and Rogation days in May, the days before Ascension Day, when God's blessing would be sought on the growing crops.}}</ref>
|date          = 1 August
|celebrations  = [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]], [[Procession#Christian processions|church procession]]s, [[First Fruits#Christian perspective|First Fruits]]<ref name="Lewin2011"/>
|observances   = Bringing a loaf of bread made from the new wheat crop to the church for a blessing, making loaves from the grain collected at harvest<ref name="Irvine1919"/><ref name="Lewin2011"/>
|relatedto     = [[Plough Sunday]], [[Rogation days]], [[Shavuot]], [[Lughnasadh]]
}}
'''Lammas''' (from [[Old English]] ''hlāfmæsse'', "loaf-mass"), also known as '''Loaf Mass Day''', is a Christian [[holiday]] celebrated in some [[English-speaking world|English-speaking]] countries on 1 August. The name originates from the word "loaf" in reference to bread and "[[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]" in reference to the [[Eucharist]].<ref name="Gandolphy1815">{{cite book |last1=Gandolphy |first1=Peter |title=An Exposition of Liturgy |date=1815 |page=51 |language=en |quote=Thus Christ-Mass implies that season when the incarnation and birth of Christ, are commemorated in the Mass. In the same manner are formed Candle-Mass, Michaelmas, Lammas, &c. Lammas-day for instance, which falls on the 1st of August, is derived from the Saxon word Laf, a Loaf and Mæse, or Mass: It having been customary on that day to make an offering to the Church, of a loaf made of new corn.}}</ref> It is a [[festival]] in the [[liturgical year|liturgical calendar]] to mark the blessing of the [[First Fruits#Christian perspective|First Fruits]] of harvest, with a loaf of bread being brought to the [[Church (building)|church]] for this purpose.<ref name="Irvine1919">{{cite book |last1=Irvine |first1=Theodora Ursula |title=How to Pronounce the Names in Shakespeare: The Pronunciation of the Names in the Dramatis Personae of Each of Shakespeare's Plays, Also the Pronunciation and Explanation of Place Names and the Names of All Persons, Mythological Characters, Etc., Found in the Text, with Forewords by E.H. Sothern and Thomas W. Churchill and with a List of the Dramas Arranged Alphabetically Indicating the Pronunciation of the Names of the Characters in the Plays |date=1919 |publisher=Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge |page=177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kO4YAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Lammas+or+Lammas+Day+(+August+1st+)+means+the+loaf+-+mass+day+.+The+day+of+first+fruit+offerings+,+when+a+loaf+was+given+to+the+priests+in+lieu+of+the+first+-+fruits+.%22&pg=PA177 |language=en |quote=Lammas or Lammas Day (August 1st) means the loaf-mass day. The day of first fruit offerings, when a loaf was given to the priests in lieu of the first-fruits.}}</ref> '''Lammastide''' falls at the halfway point between the [[summer solstice]] and the [[September equinox|autumn equinox]].<ref name="Daniel">{{cite book |last1=Daniel |first1=Evan |title=The Prayer-book: Its History, Language, and Contents |date=1909 |publisher=Wells Gardner, Darton |page=85 |language=en |quote=Lammas Day. In the Romish Church this day is known as the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula (St. Peter in the fetters), being the day on which the Apostle's imprisonment is commemorated... Lammas is a corruption of ''hlaf-masse'',*the loaf-mass. In the Early English Church it was customary on this day to offer an oblation of loaves made of new wheat, as the first-fruits of the harvest. In the Sarum Manual it is called ''Benedictio novorum fructuum''.}}</ref><ref name="CoE2023">{{cite web |title=The Agricultural Year |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-4#mmm372 |website=The Church of England |access-date=1 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Christians also have [[Procession#Christian processions|church procession]]s to bakeries, where those working therein are blessed by Christian clergy.<ref name="Sherborne2023">{{cite web |title=Lammas-tide – 'the bread of life' |url=https://www.sherborneabbey.com/lammas-tide-the-bread-of-life/ |publisher=[[Sherborne Abbey]] |access-date=1 August 2023 |language=English |quote=Lammas means “Loaf Mass” which used to celebrate the first bread baked from the new crop of grain which began to be harvested at Lammas-tide. Processions to bakeries would take place and those working there would be blessed. Our ancestors, with their celebration of the new bread, recognised the significance of Jesus being the bread of life.}}</ref>

While Lammas is traditionally a Christian holy day, some [[Modern paganism|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 [[Gaels|Gaelic]] harvest festival [[Lughnasadh]].<ref name="Crumm2013">{{cite web |title=You say Lammas, I say Lughnasadh: Christians, Pagans embrace harvest |url=https://readthespirit.com/religious-holidays-festivals/tag/lammas/ |publisher=David Crumm Media |access-date=14 May 2020 |language=en |date=1 August 2018 |quote=For Christians, Lammas has been a time for blessing loaves made of fresh wheat. In time, Christians also created a version of the Scottish Highland Quarter Cake for Lammas, which bore Christian symbols on the top. (Catholic Culture has a recipe.) In the Neopagan and Wiccan faiths, Lughnasadh is one of eight sabbaths and is the first of three harvest festivals.}}</ref>

==Name==
The name 'Lammas' comes from [[Old English]] {{Lang|ang|hlafmæsse}} meaning "[[loaf]] [[Mass (liturgy)|mass]]".<ref name="Hutton">{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |pages=330–331}}</ref> 

Several antiquarians suggested that the name 'Lammas' came from '[[Sheep|lamb]] mass'. [[John Brady (author)|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 [[English language|anglicisation]] of ''{{lang|cy|Gŵyl Awst}}'', [[Welsh language|Welsh]] for "feast of August".<ref name="Hutton"/>

==History==
[[File:Holy Trinity Brompton-2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|On Loaf Mass Day, bread is brought into the [[Church of England parish church|parish church]] to be blessed by a Christian cleric.]]
In Christianity, the offering of [[first fruits]] to God is described in the [[Old Testament]], which depicts how, "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">{{cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=Adrian |title=Unveiling the End Times in Our Time: The Triumph of the Lamb in Revelation |date=December 2003 |publisher=B&H Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8054-2691-5 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Didache]] of the early Church enjoined firstfruits be given of "money, clothes, and all of your possessions" (13:7).<ref name="Elwell2001">{{cite book |last1=Elwell |first1=Walter A. |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology |date=2001 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-0-8010-2075-9 |page=1203 |language=en}}</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 [[Apotropaic magic|protective rituals]]:<ref name="Homans">[[George C. Homans|Homans, George]] (1961). ''English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century'', 2nd ed. 1991. p.371.</ref> a book of Anglo-Saxon [[Incantation|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 [[villein]]s, 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 [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|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 term days|Scottish quarter days]] before 1886. Lammas also coincided with the feast of [[Liberation of Saint Peter|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"/>
{{quotation|August begins with Lammas Day, Loaf Mass Day, the day in the [[Book of Common Prayer]] calendar when a loaf baked with flour from newly harvested corn would be brought into church and blessed. It's one of the oldest points of contact between the agricultural world and the Church. The others were [[Plough Sunday]] in early January, the Sunday after Epiphany and the day before work would begin again in the fields after Christmas festivities, when ploughs would be brought to church to be blessed; and [[Rogation days]] in May, the days before Ascension Day, when God's blessing would be sought on the growing crops.<ref name="Lewin2011"/>}} 

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>{{cite web |title=The Agricultural Year |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons/agricultural-year#mmm372 |publisher=[[The Church of England]] |access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref> ''[[Common Worship]]'' specifies:<ref name="Common Worship"/> 
{{quotation|The Lammas loaf should ideally be baked by members of the congregation, using local produce wherever possible. Other small loaves or buns, in the tradition of 'blessed bread,' may be distributed to the congregation. Part of the Lammas loaf may be used as the eucharistic bread on this occasion. Two patterns of readings are suggested, the first concerning the offering of the first-fruits and the second concerning the bread of life.<ref name="Common Worship">{{cite book |title=Common Worship: Times and Seasons |date=19 August 2014 |publisher=Canterbury Press |isbn=978-0-7151-2238-9 |language=en}}</ref>}}

Christians also have [[Procession#Christian processions|church procession]]s 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 (ballad)|The Battle of Otterburn]]'': "It fell about the Lammas tide when the muir-men win their hay."<ref>{{cite book|last=Child|first=Francis James|title=The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=1889|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHsicFK4rykC&pg=PA293|pages=293}}</ref>

==Other uses==
[[File:The Lammas Fair Glove, Exeter - geograph.org.uk - 4599549.jpg|thumb|upright|Exeter's Lammas Fair glove in 2015]]
===Neopaganism===
{{Main|Lughnasadh}}
Some [[Modern paganism|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 (Northern Hemisphere)|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>{{cite book|author=Nevill Drury|editor1-first=Murphy|editor1-last=Pizza|editor2-first=James R|editor2-last=Lewis|title=Handbook of Contemporary Paganism |year=2009|chapter=The Modern Magical Revival: Esbats and Sabbats|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwzttsI9-NwC&q=nevill+drury |pages=63–67 |location=[[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=9789004163737}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia |last=Hume |first=Lynne |year=1997 |publisher=Melbourne University Press |location=Melbourne |isbn=9780522847826}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Vos|first=Donna|title=Dancing Under an African Moon: Paganism and Wicca in South Africa |year=2002|pages=79–86|publisher=Zebra Press|location=Cape Town|isbn=9781868726530}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bodsworth|first=Roxanne T|title=Sunwyse: Celebrating the Sacred Wheel of the Year in Australia |year=2003|publisher=Hihorse Publishing|location=Victoria, Australia|isbn=9780909223038}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}

===Horticulture===
''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>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Eustace W. |date=1959 |title=Quercus L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2257253 |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=169–222 |doi=10.2307/2257253 |jstor=2257253 |bibcode=1959JEcol..47..169J |issn=0022-0477|url-access=subscription }}</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>

===Lammas Fairs===
[[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 [[Exeter Guildhall|Guildhall]]. The fair now takes place on the first Thursday in July.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parkman |first=Chloe |date=2020-07-02 |title=Bizarre Devon glove event cancelled for only third time in 900 years |url=https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-lammas-fair-cancelled-devon-4285091 |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=DevonLive |language=en}}</ref> Other examples include [[Ould Lammas Fair]] and [[Inverkeithing Lammas Fair]].St Andrews in Fife, Scotland continues to have an annual Lammas Fair which takes place along streets in the town.

===Sustainability===
A [[Low-impact development (UK)#Wales|low-impact development]] project at [[Llanfair-Nant-Gwyn|Tir y Gafel, Glandwr]], Pembrokeshire,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://lammas.org.uk/en/welcome-to-lammas/| title = Pioneering Sustainable Living|website=Lammas Ecovillage}}</ref> [[Lammas Ecovillage]], is a collective initiative for nine self-built homes.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.selfbuild-central.co.uk/first-ideas/examples/lammas-eco-village/| title=Lammas eco village, Pembrokeshire|website = Self build central |date=2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927163340/https://www.selfbuild-central.co.uk/first-ideas/examples/lammas-eco-village/|archivedate=27 September 2020}}</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>{{cite web| url = http://lammas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Tir-y-Gafel-Annual-Monitoring-Report-2012.pdf| title = Annual Monitoring Report for Tir y Gafel Ecovillage 1st January 2012 – 31st December 2012|website=Lammas Ecovillage}}</ref> for sustainable rural communities originally proposed by the One Planet Council.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Image Archive|website=One Planet Council|url=http://www.oneplanetcouncil.org.uk/resources-images/|access-date=2022-01-14|language=en-US}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
* In the ''[[Inspector Morse (TV series)|Inspector Morse]]'' episode "Day of the Devil", Lammas Day is presented as a Satanic (un)holy day, "the Devil's day".<ref>{{Citation|title='Inspector Morse' The Day of the Devil (1993) Reviews & Ratings|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0611651/reviews |access-date=2017-09-18}}</ref>
* Lammas is a prominent plot point in the novel, ''[[Lammas Night]]'' (1983) by [[Katherine Kurtz]].

==See also==
* [[Leyton Marshes]]
* [[Shavuot]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Lammas}}
* [https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons/agricultural-year#mmm372 Lammastide] - [[The Church of England]]
* [https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/asd/2011/08/01/the-god-in-the-bread-a-sermon-for-lammas/ The God in the Bread: A Sermon for Lammas] - [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]]
* [https://www.thepilgrimsway.co.uk/2018/07/lammas-tide/ Lammas-tide by Leigh Hatts - Walking the Pilgrims' Way]
* [https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-little-history-of-lammas.html "A Little History of Lammas" - A Clerk of Oxford]

{{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church}}
{{English festivals}}
{{Wheel of the Year}}

[[Category:Christian festivals in Europe]]
[[Category:Christian processions]]
[[Category:August observances]]
[[Category:Holidays in Scotland]]
[[Category:Scottish quarter days]]
[[Category:February observances]]
[[Category:Summer holidays]]
[[Category:Summer solstice]]
[[Category:Autumn equinox]]

[[cy:Gŵyl Galan Awst]]