1st August: Lammas
‘The reapers leave their beds before the sun
And gleaners follow when home toils are done
To pick the littered ear the reaper leaves
And glean in open fields among the sheaves’
From ‘August’ by John Clare (1793-1864)
The first day of August is half way between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. This is when the agricultural cycle moves from growing to ripening and harvest. Lammas marks the gathering in of the first summer harvest. In early Saxon and medieval societies, when the first grain crop of the year was ready to cut it must have been an occasion of enormous importance and relief.
Eleanor Parker in her excellent book about the Anglo-Saxon year, ‘Winters in the World’, points out that in cultures where survival depends on a bountiful harvest, there is often a profoundly spiritual aspect to this season. There were two main times when starvation threatened in agricultural societies - early spring and immediately before harvest time. At Lammas the medieval housewife could bake new bread from the first cut of the grain. No wonder it was a time to celebrate and give thanks.
The word ‘Lammas’ is interesting. It derives from the Anglo Saxon word hlafmaesse - loaf mass - clearly a Christian festival, but it shares a root with hlafweard - the bread guardian, implying someone who provides for and protects the household. That sounds pre-Christian to me. So there may or may not have been a pagan predecessor to Lammas but who knows? Certainly not the Venerable Bede who supplied us with so much information about our Anglo Saxon ancestors. Lammas does get mentioned in the Anglo Saxon chronicles though, and particularly in The Menelogium. That’s the introduction which tells an about the Anglo Saxon year.
And after seven nights
Wedmonath brightened by summer, slips
into the dwellings, everywhere August
brings people of the earth
Lammas Day. So harvest comes,
After that number of nights but one,
bright, laden with fruits. Plenty is revealed,
beautiful upon the Earth.
(Woedmonath August according to Bede is ‘weed-month’ because so many weeds are present then. My garden is a testament to that.)
The idea of a ‘loaf mass’ suggests that our ancestors were celebrating not the raw grain but the bread made with it - which distinguishes Lammas from Harvest Festival, when all is safely gathered in later in the season, and which is actually a Victorian invention.
This is Samuel Palmer's picture 'The Harvest Moon' clearly showing women gleaning on a moonlit night. I just love Palmer's pictures.
Lammas Day was a traditional day for feasting and craft festivals. It was also a quarter day when rents fall due. No question that it has to be bread then. I’ve made what in our house is always called ‘Dinkelsbühl Bread’, for the simple reason that I first saw it in a baker’s window there many decades ago and I’ve made it for special occasions ever since. You can vary the individual toppings according to what you have in store. I usually use caraway, sesame, poppy seeds, oats and bran.
This might be a good time to mention some of the numerous superstitions associated with bread making. My Grandmother made four loaves of bread a week, on Tuesday and Friday. She always marked the dough with a cross before putting it to rise, and Friday bread was regarded as much more likely to go wrong, Friday not being an auspicious day for most undertakings. Two loaves stuck together produce a ‘kissing crust’. Bread must never be thrown in the fire - it’s the staff of life - don’t burn it. Bread is a symbol of wealth and welcome, something to be worked for and fought for and every new loaf is a small kitchen miracle.
There's really no recipe for this, you make some rolls - white or wholemeal according to your preference and then brush them lightly with an egg wash after you formed them. Put your toppings on a series of saucers and dip each one. Assemble the crown of rolls either on a flat baking tray or in a large round tin if you want to keep a neat shape - I don't. Bake as normal. I sometimes make this and take it to parties instead of a bottle of wine (check with your hostess first!).
It was on a Lammas night,
When corn rigs are bonie,
Beneath the moon's unclouded light,
I held away to Annie:
The time flew by, wi tentless heed,
Till 'tween the late and early;
Wi' sma' persuasion she agreed
To see me thro' the barley.
From ‘Harvest Moon’ by Robert Burns (1759-1796)
This is lovely, Liz, and very nostalgic for me as an Irishwoman! There's a Lammas Fair every year in my hometown of Ballycastle in the North, and I love Brian Friel's play 'Dancing at Lughnasa' set in August 1936.