At Latter Lammas

1 August

Lore and belief

An old proverb put off anything that would never happen until latter Lammas, a second Lammas that never comes. Brand compares it with the Latin ad Graecas Calendas, at the Greek calends, which the Greeks never had, and with the country saying when two Sundays come together. He adds that Queen Elizabeth once turned the Latin phrase into an extempore verse in reply to an ambassador of Philip II of Spain.

We have an old proverb, "At latter Lammass," which is synonymous with the "ad Graecas Calendas" of the Latins

From Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 348. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

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.

At Latter Lammas

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