Seasons of the Witch – Legends and Lore, Ancient Holidays
And Some Not So Ancient!
Today Is …
Day Dedicated to the Sea Goddess Ys of Brittany. Enjoy a swim or soak your feet in water. Put a little salt under your tongue in remembrance of Her.
Many folks still believe in this ancient superstition: if you make a secret wish wile looking up at the new moon (which normally begins on or near this date in August), your wish will be granted before the year is through.
Oyster Day – Londoners believe that if you eat an oyster today you will not want for money all year. This sentiment is expressed in the following rhyme from Hone’s Every-Day Book, published in 1829, which describes the mad dash to Billingsgate where the fish market was located:
Greengrocers rise at dawn of sun
August the fifth — come haste away
To Billingsgate the thousands run
To Oyster Day! To Oyster Day!
Actually in England, the legal close season for oysters was 15 June to 4 August so this was actually the day after oyster season closed. But the common saying is that one should never eat oysters in months without an R, which would include August, as well as June and July.
Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press 1999
Kightly, Charles, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames & Hudson 1987
Brigg Fair – The date of a famous horse fair held in Lincolnshire, mentioned in the lovely folk song: Horse-racing was a common activity at Lammas, particularly in Ireland.
It was on the 5th of August
The weather fair and fine
Unto Brigg Fair
I did repair
For love I was inclined.
GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives
Remember the ancient ways and keep them sacred!
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Live each Season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. ~Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
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