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August


To the Book of Days main calendar

 


Carpe diem!

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Dry August and warm
Doth harvest no harm.

Traditional English proverb

The Sun with sultry Sirius now doth rise
And Jove's red lightning flashes from the skies:
The angry gods heaven's arm'ry open flings,
And whizzing bolts ride forth on burning wings.
Anson Allen; Newtonian Reflector, 1825  

August is a wicked month.
Edna O'Brien, Irish writer, 1936; title of novel

The eighth was August, being rich array'd
  In garment all of gold downe to the ground
Yet rode he not, but led a lovely mayd
  Forth by the lily hand, the which was crown'd
With ears of corne, and full her hand was found.
  That was the righteous Virgin, which of old
Liv'd here on earth, and plenty made abound;
  But after wrong was lov'd, and justice solde,
She left th'unrighteous world, and was to heav'n extolled.
Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 - January 13, 1599), English poet; Faerie Queen, The Cantos of Mutabilitie

As August, so next February
Traditional English proverb  

A fog in August means a severe Winter and plenty of snow.
Traditional English proverb

A halo around August moon presages rain.
Traditional English proverb

Pale moon doth rain, red moon doth blow.
White moon doth neither rain nor snow.
Traditional August weather rhyme

My father
He knew
How many beautiful August evenings
surround an ear of corn.
Robert Sund

 

Sigillum Dei Aemeth (The sigil of Dei Ameth, Seal of the truth of God)
Alchemists John Dee and Edward Kelley considered the mandala known as the Sigil of Ameth the most powerful and sacred of symbols. The sigil, a large waxen disc, was placed in several places on the Holy Table beneath Kelly's scrying stone and under each leg. It contains names of God and various angels in arcane script.

The Emperor Octavian, called the August,
I being his favorite, bestowed his name
Upon me, and I hold it still in trust,
In memory of him and of his fame.
I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame
Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;
Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim
The golden Harvests as my heritage.
HW Longfellow
(1807 - '82); The Poet's Calendar for August

If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming Winter will be snowy and long.
Traditional English weather proverb

For every fog in August, there will be a snowfall in Winter.
Traditional English weather proverb

If a cold August follows a hot July,
It foretells a Winter hard and dry.

Traditional English weather proverb

In harvest time, harvest folke, servants and all.
Should make all togither good cheere in the hall;
And fill out the black boule of bleith to their song
And let them be merie all harvest time long ...
  Once ended they harvest, let none be begilde,
Please such as did helpe thee, man, woman and childe.
Thus dooing, with alway such helpe as they can,
Thou winnest the praise of the labouring man.

Thomas Tusser (1524 - '80), Five hundreth pointes of good husbandrie: as well for the champion or open countrie, as also for the woodland or severall ; mixed in everie month with huswiferie, over and besides the booke of huswiferie, London: 'Printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham in Aldersgate Street at the signe of the starre', 1586. August is harvest-time in the Northern Hemisphere.

Grant, harvest-lord, more by a penny or two,
To call on his fellowes, the better to do;
Give gloves to thy reapers a largess to crie,
And daily to loiterers have a good eie.

Thomas Tusser

It was on a Lammas night, 
When corn rigs are bonnie,
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. 

The sky was blue, the wind was still,
The moon was shining clearly;
I set her down, wi' right good will,
Amang the rigs o'barley
I ken't her heart was a' my ain;
I lov'd her most sincerely;
I kissed her owre and owre again,
Among the rig o' barley. 

I locked her in my fond embrace;
Her heart was beating rarely:
My blessings on that happy place,
Amang the rigs o'barley.
But by the moon and stars so bright,
That shone that hour so clearly!
She ay shall bless that happy night,
Amang the rigs o'barley. 

I hae been blythe wi' comrades dear;
I hae been merry drinking;
I hae been joyfu' gath'rin gear;
I hae been happy thinking:
But a' the pleasures e'er I saw,
Tho three times doubl'd fairley
That happy night was worth then a'.
Among the rig's o' barley. 

CHORUS

Corn rigs, an' barley rigs,
An' corn rigs are bonnie:
I'll ne'er forget that happy night,
Among the rigs wi' Annie.

Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), Scottish poet

I shall have a fine book of travels, I feel sure; and will tell you more of the South Seas after very few months than any other writer has done except Herman Melville perhaps, who is a howling cheese.
Robert Louis Stevenson referring (without explaining what a 'howling cheese' is) to Herman Melville, American author born on August 1, 1819; letter to Charles Baxter, September 6, 1888, Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vol. 2, Ch. X   Source

Now, in the whale ship, it is not every one that goes in the boats. Some few hands are reserved called ship-keepers, whose province it is to work the vessel while the boats are pursuing the whale. As a general thing, these ship-keepers are as hardy fellows as the men comprising the boats' crews. But if there happen to be an unduly slender, clumsy, or timorous wight in the ship, that wight is certain to be made a ship-keeper. It was so in the Pequod with the little negro Pippin by nick-name, Pip by abbreviation. Poor Pip! ye have heard of him before; ye must remember his tambourine on that dramatic midnight, so gloomy-jolly ...
   Pip, though over tender-hearted, was at bottom very bright, with that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his tribe; a tribe, which ever enjoy all holidays and festivities with finer, freer relish than any other race. 

Herman Melville, born on August 1, 1819; Moby Dick, Ch. 93, 'The Castaway'

In sum, gentlemen, what the wildness of this canal life is, is emphatically evinced by this; that our wild whale-fishery contains so many of its most finished graduates, and that scarce any race of mankind, except Sydney men, are so much distrusted by our whaling captains.
Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Ch. 54, 'The Town-ho's Story'

 

 

 

August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining.
On the dating of items in the Almanac  Translate this page  Find your birthday star  Daily Everything  NNDB  Time/Date  Google
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When 'Source' links on this page move address or die, I might allow them to stay here, but the Wayback Machine might help you locate the original.

 

August birthstones: Sardonyx, signifying marital bliss and faithfulness; peridot; aventurine.

Wear a sardonyx or for thee
No conjugal felicity.
Those August born without this stone
'Tis said must live unloved, alone.

Traditional English rhyme

Goddess month: Kerea and Hesperis

 

The month of August

August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days.

August begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Leo and ends in the sign of Virgo. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Cancer and ends in the constellation of Leo.

August was named in honour of Augustus Caesar (Octavian). The month reputedly has 31 days because Augustus wanted as many days as Julius Caesar's July. Augustus placed the month where it is because that is when Cleopatra died. Before Augustus renamed August in 8 BCE, it was called Sextilis in Latin, since it was the sixth month in the Roman calendar which started in March.

In Brazil, folk superstition associates bad luck to August, with the proverb 'Agosto, o ms do desgosto' ('August, the month of misfortune') being often heard. This may come from the sinister memories of the St Bartholomew's day (August 24), which is particularly dreaded in the North-east of the country. Incongruously, (folklore is rarely neatly consistent) there is also a tradition that August is a lucky month, as it is ushered in by Lammas (August 1) and in the Northern Hemisphere is a time of harvest and bounty. According to legend, the goddess Demeter left Olympus in August to dwell on earth. Her beneficent qualities are most apparent in this harvest month. 

Sources: Wikipedia et al

The Anglo-Saxons called it "Arnmonat, (more rightly barn-moneth,) intending thereby the then filling of their barnes with corne" (Verstegan). Arn is the Saxon word for 'harvest'. According to some they also called it 'Woedmonath', as they also called June.

Neopagan tradition calls August the time of the 'Corn Moon' and it is described by Black Elk (Black Elk Speaks, 1932) as the 'Moon of the Black Cherries' or 'Moon when the Cherries Turn Black'.

Roman festivals and notable days in the Book of Days    Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days    August poems and folklore

 

Names of the Month in Various Cultures

Scots Gaelic An Lunasdal, month of Lugh's feast

Aleuts: The Warm month

Ugric Ostiaks: Month of hay harvest

Tatars: Grass month

Karagasses: Month in which the lily-bulb is dug up

Kamchatka: Moonlight month (people fish by moonlight)

Yukon: Swans moult, young geese fly

Eskimos: Velvet-shedding (from the horns of the reindeer)

More at: School of the Seasons

 

 

Wheel of the Year: Click around rim for the Station of the Year (Sabbat) you require, or hub of wheel for our Articles department

 

 

Eight Stations of the Year (Sabbats) in the Book of Days

The Eight Stations are the equinoxes, solstices, and the midway points between them

Spring Equinox/Ostara   May Day/Beltaine   Summer Solstice/Litha   Lammas/Lughnasadh

Autumn Equinox/Mabon   Halloween/Samhain   Winter Solstice/Yule   Brigid/Candlemas/Imbolc

Helpful external links   

Wheel of the Year at Mything Links   Wheel of the Year at Wikipedia

School of the Seasons   Calendars at Wikipedia   Almanacs, calendars, time

 

 

Lughnasadh, or Lammas

L Lnasa, the traditional first day of Autumn in Ireland

The modern date for Lughnasadh, as for the other great Celtic festivals, Imbolc, Beltane and Samhain, is only an approximation made necessary by a solar calendar. In Ireland, the festival began in mid-July, and lasted till mid-August, but its main focus was August 1. In the (satr) (Asatru) tradition, that day is sacred to the Norse deities Odin and Frigg; celebrants used to ascend the spiral path of the Lammas hill, on way to Lammas festivities.

 

What is it?

In the Northern Hemisphere, halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, comes the ancient Celtic pagan festival of Lughnasadh, also called Lughnasa (or the modern Irish spelling, Lnasa) and Lammas, one of the eight Sabbats one of the High Holidays, or four Greater Sabbats of the Celtic Wheel of the Year. (This is the least known of the four seasonal cross-quarter days. Certainly, Samhain (Halloween) and Beltane (May Day) get more press in our age.) In the Southern Hemisphere, some neo-pagans call this time Imbolc, after the station of the year directly opposite Lammas on the Wheel.

Lammas comes from Old English hlaf maesse, meaning loaf mass', the Christian holy repast at which bread baked from the first wheat of the season was blessed. Many cultures have the ceremony of the first of the harvest being sacrificially given to the gods, or god; the ancient Hebrews offered their first fruits' to Jehovah, just as the Bemanti clan of Swaziland offer theirs to their king during December's full moon, in the Ncwala ceremony. When Christianity came to the Celtic lands, most ancient festivals such as Lughnasadh were imbued by the Church with Christian symbolism, so loaves of bread were baked from the first of the harvested grain and consecrated on the church altar on the first Sunday of August, a tradition still enacted in many churches.

Some have claimed that the word is from Lamb-Mass, "because on that day the tenants who held lands under the cathedral church in York, which is dedicated to St Peter ad Vincula, were bound by their tenure to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass; others derive it from a supposed offering or tything of lambs at this time" (William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online).

The similarity of the pre-Christian name Lughnasadh to the Christian name Lammas might be more than coincidental, but it is a contended matter. The etymology might go something like this: the Celtic word nasadh meant commemoration', or to give in marriage'; the Anglo-Saxons called this festival Lughmass; because it took place between the hay harvest and the corn harvest, the name was later confused with hlaf maesse; hence Lammas'. We might, however, as easily assume that Lughnasadh' means the Marriage of Lugh, as Lugh's Mass', a rather common interpretation.

 

Lammas free e-cards    Celtic free e-cards    pagans4peace

 

The Celtic Sun God, LughLugh, Celtic sun god

The god associated with the season is a Celtic sun god, Lugh, whose name is related to the Latin lux, or, light', and means the shining one' (cf Lucia). 

He was handsome, perpetually youthful, and full of vivacity and energy. Poet and author Robert Graves proposed that his name came from the Latin lucus (grove'), and even perhaps lu, Sumerian for son. Lugh was a deity cognate to Hercules or Dionysus, the Romans' version of the Greek god Apollo. Another name for him was Lugh the Long Handed'. In Wales, he was called Lleu, or Lleu Llaw Gyffes, meaning Lion with the Steady Hand'. Lleu means lion, related to the Latin leo. (Note that the Zodiacal sign of Leo is now in the sun.)

Although we are uncertain whether the Gauls' name of this Celtic deity was Romanised to Lugus/Lugos, (whom they identified with the god Mercury), or vice versa, we do know that the impact of both the name and the deity were widespread. Lyons in France, for example, was originally called Lugudunum, or the Fort of Lugus, and a festival formerly held there on August 1 was later renamed after Caesar Augustus who had assumed major deity authority. The European towns of Laon, Leyden and Carlisle (originally Caer Lugubalion) also were all named after Lugh, and the modern name Hugh also derives from the deity.

Deities of many cultures in the Book of Days

 

Let the games begin!

Several important and hugely attended assemblies, all involving Olympics-like games, took place during Lughnasadh in Ireland, and there is growing evidence of such games throughout Europe, because Celtic culture took root from Ireland to as far as Galatia, the Middle Eastern town mentioned in the Bible (St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians the word is etymologically related to Celtia') ...

Read on at the Lughnasadh/Lammas page in the Scriptorium

 

The Gule of August

The month of August was the first in the Egyptian calendar, called Gule, which when latinized makes Gula, which in Latin signifies throat. Seeing the word at the head of the month's calendar, the Roman Catholic Church made the day a feast to the daughter of the tribune Quirinus, who was cured of a throat disease by kissing the chain of St Peter on the day of its festival. "Forcing the Gule of the Egyptians into the throat of the tribune's daughter, they instituted a festival to Gule upon the festival-day of St Peter ad Vincula."

(William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online)

On the dating of Egyptian festivals and rites

 

Feast day of St Peter ad Vincula, or St Peter's chains

(Stramony (Jimson Weed; Jamestown Weed; Thorn Apple; Angel's Trumpet; Zombie's Cucumber), Datura stramonium, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)
The Roman Catholic church claimed to have one of the chains with which St Peter was bound, and from which the angel delivered him. The empress Eudocia brought the two chains in 439 from Jerusalem, sending one to Constantinople and the other to Rome. Over many years, the popes sent miracle-performing filings of it to devout princes.

"The enthronization of the pope in the Chair of St. Peter, Cathedra Petri, was formerly a very important ceremony, which took place at St. Peter's in Rome, or, exceptionally, in the church of St. Peter ad Vincula, where there was also a Cathedra Petri. This ceremony was performed immediately after the election, if the latter had taken place in the church of St. Peter, or before the coronation."   Source

Webcam: Church of St Peter's Chains, Rome (the cleaning of Michelangelo's Moses')

 

 

Healing of the insane at Strathfillan pool, old Scotland

"At Strathfillan, there is a deep pool, called the Holy Pool, where, in olden times, they were wont to dip insane people. The ceremony was performed after sunset on the first day of the quarter, O. S.,* and before sunrise next morning. The dipped persons were instructed to take three stones from the bottom of the pool, and, walking three times round each of three cairns on the bank, throw a stone into each. They were next conveyed to the ruins of St Fillan's chapel; and in a corner called St Fillan's bed, they were laid on their back, and left tied all night. If next morning they were found loose, the cure was deemed perfect, and thanks returned to the saint. The pool is still (1843) visited, not by parishioners, for they have no faith in its virtue, but by people from other and distant places."
New Statistical Account of Scotland, parish of Killin, 1843; in Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days)

[* The first day of quarters in Scotland is not same as in England and elsewhere. They are Candlemas, Feb 2; Whitsunday, (arbitrarily set at May 15); Lammas, Aug 1; and Martinmas, Nov 11. It's debatable whether to interpret these dates as OS (Old Style), or new.]

 

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PerseusThe Games of Lugh

This is an old Celtic name for the Perseids, the most familiar of all meteor showers, that take place at around this time of year. Associated with the Swift-Tuttle Comet, the Perseids have been well documented since at least 830 CE and take their name from the constellation Perseus where shooting stars appear. We can well imagine ancient Celts looking upon these wonders and associating them with other phenomena of the season between the equinox and solstice, including the heat of the last of the Dog Days. They attributed the celestial display of Perseid lights to games being played by Lugh, 'the shining one'.

As is well known, most ancient cultures looked on meteor showers and other phenomena in the sky as having supernatural meaning. In pre-Zoroastrian India, the Perseids were the Pairikas, the prototypes of the Peris, the nymphs or female angels of later Persian tradition, and likewise the Parigs or witches of Manichaeism. The Pairikas, in the form of worm-stars, are said to fly between the earth and the heavens at this time. These shooting stars' fall annually at about the time when Tistrya (Sirius) is supposed to be most active.

The remarkable annual appearance of the Perseids might explain why the ancient Egyptian Lychnapsia (Festival of Lights', or The Lights of Isis') at this time of year was revered in the Osirian mysteries. In Arab folklore, shooting stars are traditionally said to be firebrands hurled by the angels against the inquisitive Jinns or Genii, who are forever clambering up on the constellations to peep into heaven.

 

In Greek mythology, Perseus (pictured) was the son of mortal Danae and the god Zeus.

 

More on the mythology and folklore of Perseus and the Perseids on August 10 in the Book of Days.

 

More

 

 

 

Festival honouring Xiuhtecuhtli (Xiuhtechuhtli; Huehueteotl, old god'), god of fire and the calendar, Aztec
In Aztec mythology, the personification of light in the darkness, warmth in coldness, and life in death. Xiuhtecuhtli also represented food during famine. He was usually depicted with a red or yellow face and a censer on his head. His wife was Chalciuhtlicue.

At the end of the Aztec century (52 years), the gods were thought to be able to end their covenant with humanity. Feasts were held in honour of Xiuhtecuhtli to keep his favours, and human sacrifices were burned after the removal of the victims' hearts.
Source of date: Earth, Moon and Sky

Three Drimes, Greece
"The Greeks honor the first three days of August as a transition point in the year. Proverbs such as August has come the first step of winter,' and Winter begins in August, summer in March,' reflect the sense of change which occurs on this quarter-day."

Source: School of the Seasons

Dog Days, ancient Rome (Jul 3 - Aug 11)

Kalends of August, ancient Rome

Day of the Dryads, ancient Macedonia
Dedicated to maiden spirits of wood and water.
Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar

Honey Day, Russia
Horses were brought to the church for a blessing on this day, and they were washed in the local river, which in turn was blessed by the priest.

Esala Perahera (Festival of Buddha's Tooth), Sri Lanka (Jul 22 - Aug 1) (2004)

Procession of the Cross, Orthodox Christianity
The Orthodox commemorate the Feast of the Procession of the Venerable Wood of the Cross on August 1, the day on which the relics of the True Cross would be carried through the streets of Constantinople to bless the city.

Feast day of St Aled (Eunid; Elined)

"Saint Aled (Euned) Welsh virgin from 6th century. She was supposed to have been a young nun who refused marriage, seeking shelter in Llanfillo then at Slwch Tump. There she built a hermit's cell. She was found by the prince who caught her and cut off her head. A spring appeared where her head fell. A church was built on the site of her cell. The only accounts of her life seem to have been written by Gerald of Wales. The account seems to bear a similarity with the life of Winefride. Gerald describes her church as being close to Brecon castle and where people would gather for healing. There is also a suggestion of young p