Lammas, the Loaf-Mass

The first of August stands in the old almanacs as Lammas Day, and was also called the Gule of August. Blount the glossographer, quoted by Hone, took the name from hlaf-mass, loaf-mass, a thanksgiving for the first fruits of the corn kept with bread of the new wheat, and Chambers agreed, since a loaf was the usual offering at church that day. In some places tenants were bound to bring new wheat to their lord on or before the first of August, and new wheat was called Lammas wheat. Others derived it from lamb-mass, because tenants of York Minster, dedicated to St Peter ad Vincula, had to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass; Hone’s second volume adds a mass asking St Peter to bless the lambs at shearing time, while Chambers thought the York custom grew up from the name.