August 1st is the ancient Celtic festival of Lammas, originally knownas Lughnasa. The early Anglican Church adopted Lammas as a harvest festival celebrating the ripening of the grain. Lammas itself can be translated as meaning “loaf mass.” Some versions suggest that it once meant “lamb-mass,” since it was also a time to honor St. Peter’s chains and the time when lambs were taken into the church. In England, this was the ripening of the winter wheat. It was also a time to harvest the ripening of the Lammas apples, which were also a very important food source among the Celts.
In Scotland, it was a cross-quarter day. This was a time for paying debts and was Christianized out of an old Saxon first fruit festival, when the harvest was used as payment to the various landlords. This was a time when the land was opened up and used for pasturages. The practice seems to have been very old and was observed in many villages until the 19th century. In the Scottish Highlands, it was a time to use preventive measures to protect the cattle and villagers from evil spirits.
The origins of Lammas have their roots in the much older festival of Lughnasa, a time to honor the sun god Lugh. At this time the final scraps of the Lughnasa harvest were woven into corn dollies and were placed in bars to ward off similar evil fairies and bad spirits. They were eventually burned and had their ashes tilled into the mass gardens to ensure a good harvest in the late fall.
I need to mention that when I say corn I am not talking about Native American maize, but the various grains such as barley that were ripening at the time. Another possible omen of this early harvest was the rise of the dog star Sirius, which is prominent at this time of year. This was at the beginning of the agricultural age. And so it goes.