August Country Days

The mice are back.

This is the August page illustrating the Sara Coleridge poem from a childrens book I've used before.

The mice are gleaning the cornfield for their winter stores.

Don't worry about rain in August because...........

"August rain gives honey and wine"

But on the other hand..............

  "Dry August and warm doth harvest no harm".

The first of August is celebrated in some parts of the Northern hemisphere as Lammas or Loaf Mass. This is when the first loaf of bread made from the first wheat harvested is blessed in a church service.

It would have been a public holiday when fairs were held and also marked the start of the time commoners were allowed to graze their animals on the stubble fields.

Combines are out and about here cutting the barley, the wheat will be next, it's almost ready.

Here's an obvious saying............
.

If weather be fair and tidy,

thy grain make speedy carriage,

for fear of rain. 

 

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There were plenty of "speedy carriages"on the road yesterday when I popped over early to see Youngest Daughter and Florence. The mass of traffic heading up the A12 to Lowestoft was crazy. With fewer people going abroad this summer I reckon the coast roads will be madly busy on any sunny day.

I shall be staying close to home through August.

Have  a good weekend, whatever your plans - hope you don't get stuck in a traffic jam.
Back Monday
Sue

August 1st or Lammas

The wheel of the year from the book "Ceremonies of the Seasons" by Jennifer Cole, showing the August/Early September segment as summer turns to Autumn.

 August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Lammas, the 1st of August was one of the Celts 'cross quarter' days. .The dates that fall between the solstices and equinoxes that were used to mark the agricultural year. It was called Lughnasad Day after the Celtic God Lugh. According to ninth century Anglo-Saxon records Lammas or "hlaf-mass" meaning Loaf-Mass or Feast of Bread  was celebrated as the start of harvest.  The first loaf made from the years harvest was taken to church to be blessed and sacrificed so that all could be fed from the rest of the harvest.

After Lammas the corn ripens by night as well as by day.

One of my old Folklore diaries says...........

The act of sacrifice at harvest is a reminder that we all follow the same path of life and death and reminds us to make the most of our time whilst we are here. Consider the passing of the summer and enjoy the bounties it has brought us and think how best to prepare for the coming autumn and winter.

The illustration below is from the August pages of The Diary of a Country Lady. It says that the name comes from Roman Emporer Augustus, because this was the month when he had his greatest good fortune. An extra day had to be added to August so that it wasn't inferior to July.......... named after Julius ....information  that Edith Holden took from the Encyclopedia Britannica.

 

There are very few weather rhymes and sayings for August, maybe people were too busy with the harvest to make up rhymes.

Here in Suffolk harvest has started and the combines were out for several days before the wet weekend.............for the barley first. The wheat crop on the field beside me isn't quite ready yet, the grains in the wheat ear are still soft.

Thank you for comments about herbs on Tuesday and finances on Wednesday.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Lammas and August Days and more about Ickworth House

Lammas, the 1st of August was one of the Celts 'cross quarter' days. The dates that fall between the solstices and equinoxes that were used to mark the agricultural year. Lammas or Loaf-Mass marks the wheat harvest. In early Christian  days a loaf of bread made from the new crop would be brought to church to be blessed.
It was an important day in the country, as land which had been harvested could be made available for village people to graze their animals. It was once a public holiday when fairs were held.
For the Anglo Saxons August was Weodmonath - The month of weeds - a prompt to keep hoeing.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Two pages of August illustration from The Illustrated Country Year by Celia Lewis (btw I still have no idea who sent me her other book The Coastal Year, )

 August 24th is Saint Bartholomew's Day, he was the patron saint of bee keepers and it was traditional for the honey to be taken from the bees on this day.
In London a St Bartholomew's Day fair was held to raise funds for St Bartholomew's hospital, the fair was first held in 1133 but was banned in 1855 because of offences against public dignity and morals!
The first "toffee apples" were traditional at this fair, they were windfall apples, skewered on sticks and dipped in honey.

St. Bartholomew's mantle wipe's dry all the tears St. Swithin can cry

That is a reference to the fact that the forty days from St Swithin's are up on St Bartholomew's.

Maybe we should be prepared because

If the first week of August is unusually warm

The winter will be white and long. 

Many Thanks for comments yesterday................

I will go back to Ickworth as we didn't look around the furnished rooms "above stairs" at all because in the first room we went into Jacob spotted a rope round the very old carpet and furniture and before we could grab him,  said "I can go under!" so he did and the NT volunteer lady watching over the room said  "You will have to get him out of there" so after daughter had grabbed him by the leg and hauled him out we beat a hasty retreat outside!

In Reply to Margaret and others................... I've been a  member of the NT a few times in the past and have visited many of the properties in Suffolk and Norfolk, Devon, Cornwall and the Lake District. But I hadn't been to Ickworth and haven't been to some places just over the border in Essex, so with those and the cost of Ickworth and a £15 NT voucher to use for Christmas presents I shall get my money's worth.

To Col. ..........We used to get many people coming to the campsite who had never visited Suffolk before and they were always surprised by the wide open skies, the quiet country roads and the number and variety of things to see. So if you do visit I hope you will enjoy your stay.

Mary.........Jacob liked the playground!

To Katie......I hope you get your country cottage so you can display your copper pans.

To Jackie at Winters End............It was the Hervey family who owned it for 500 years, some had money and then in the 20th century as Rachel said in comments the family had "problems" and handed it to the NT with a 99 year lease to live in the East Wing but then gave that to the NT too to avoid forfeiture because of the 7th Earls  behavior. The East wing is now a posh hotel and the west wing earns it's keep as a conference centre and wedding venue as well as being open to visitors.
To Aril...............I was pleasantly surprised to find I will be able to visit Ickworth again in the winter as last time we were members they seemed to have most houses shut through winter and then only open on odd days in spring

More about the family who owned Ickworth

The entry about them in Wikiwotsit explains the recent family history.................

The 6th Marquess of Bristol married three times. His son from his first marriage succeeded as 7th Marquess A flamboyant character, he died childless and virtually penniless after decades of drug abuse at the age of 44 in January 1999. The 6th Marquess's only child from his second marriage, Lord Nicholas Hervey, died by his own hand at the age of 36 in 1998. From his third marriage, the 6th Marquess had three children: Frederick Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol, Lady Victoria Hervey and Lady Isabella Hervey. While the present Lord Bristol is involved in business, his two sisters are reality TV actresses and socialites whose lives feature in the popular press.

How the other half live!!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

August Days

I started to paint the August picture in the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady colouring book but didn't have the right shades - there's only one purple in my set of 24 water colour crayons - to do the thistle, and no green crayons the right shade for the leaves. 

So here's Edith Holden's water colour painting instead.

 My photo of a thistle instead of my colouring

This is what August looks like here in among the arable fields of Suffolk, a field of wheat stretching

into the distance.

The first of August is celebrated in some parts of the Northern hemisphere as Lammas or Loaf Mass. This is when the first loaf of bread made from the first wheat harvested is blessed in a church service.

It would have been a public holiday when fairs were held and also marked the start of the time commoners were allowed to graze their animals on the stubble fields.

 Looks as if it the wheat in the field by us is ready to harvest, but after the rain we've had it's too wet for combines to get on the field for a few days at least.

No wonder one country saying in my books says

 "Dry August and warm doth harvest no harm".

Most other weather sayings are linked to St. Bartholomew's  day which is the 24th and is 40 days after St Swithin's hence the saying 

"All the tears that St. Swithin can cry

St Bartlemy's mantle wipes them dry" 

and

"If the 24th August be fair and clear

Then hope for a prosperous Autumn that year"

Before the Romans, in Anglo-Saxon times, August was called Weodmonath - The month of weeds!

We have a few of those!

In some parts of the country St Bartholomew is the Patron Saint of Beekeepers because the 24th was the traditional day to begin the honey harvest.

Back Soon

Sue

And a PS. Yes it's knapweed growing everywhere, thank you everyone. The house with no one in is owned by someone with houses in either London and Sudbury, or France and Sudbury or maybe all three. Apparently they've advertised it for sale once or twice but then taken it off the market again. Now and again someone appears and paints or mends something and the grass is cut by someone else. And that's all we know!