A live lamb for York Minster

1 August · York, Yorkshire

No longer kept

On Lammas Day, tenants who held land from York Minster once had to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass. Taylor gave this as part of his explanation of the name, which he took to be Lambs-mass, from masses said so that lambs and sheep would not die after shearing. The lamb was a condition of their tenure.

On this day the tenants who formerly held lands of the cathedral church in York, were bound by their tenure to bring a lamb alive into the church at high mass.

From Taylor's Antiquitates Curiosae, 2nd ed., p. 45. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Geese with straws on Lammas Day Lore and belief WalesOn the Welsh coasts it was said that if geese and ducks ran about with straws in their beaks on Lammas Day, destructive storms would follow in late summer and the autumn would be very boisterous.
The feast round Hitchingstone No longer kept YorkshireOn the 1st of August people gathered for a feast round the Hitchingstone, a huge block of granite on the highest part of Sutton Common in Craven, with dancing, racing and the other sports of the local village feasts.
Lammas, called August’s Wheel Lore and belief EnglandLammas Day was called August's Wheel, and by then the ripe corn was said to stink of camomile, the weed growing among it.
At Latter Lammas Lore and belief EnglandAn old proverb put off anything that would never happen until latter Lammas, a second Lammas that never comes.
Burning Fern for Rain Lore and belief Scotland, StaffordshireA letter of 1 August 1636 from the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery to the high sheriff of Staffordshire said that the king was about to pass through the county.
Glove Silver No longer kept England, SuffolkIt was once the custom in England to give servants money on Lammas Day to buy gloves, which was called glove silver, in the teeth of the proverb that a cat in mittens catches no mice.
Lammas, the Loaf-Mass No longer kept England, YorkshireThe first of August stands in the old almanacs as Lammas Day, and was also called the Gule of August.
St Wilfrid’s Feast at Ripon Still kept YorkshireRipon honoured its patron St Wilfrid with an annual feast.
The Exeter Lammas Glove Still kept DevonExeter's Lammas Fair was opened with a glove of immense size, stuffed and carried through the city on a very long pole dressed with ribbons and flowers, followed by music, the parish beadles and a crowd.
Doggett’s Coat and Badge Still kept LondonThomas Dogget, a Dublin-born comic actor and a keen supporter of the Hanoverian succession, gave a waterman's coat and silver badge to be rowed for on 1 August 1715, the first anniversary of George I's accession, and at his death left money to keep the prize going for ever.
Lammas Towers No longer kept East Lothian, Midlothian, West LothianUntil about the middle of the eighteenth century the cowherds of Lothian kept Lammas with towers.

A live lamb for York Minster

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