Book of Days

And now it is August. And with its first day comes Lammas, an old agrarian holiday meant to mark the subtle transition as summer begins its inevitable shift toward autumn. It is a cross-quarter day, meaning it marks a halfway point (roughly) betwixt a solstice and an equinox, and there are four of them each year. Lammas is the third. We are well past the halfway point of the year now, and the long days surrounding the Midsummer solstice in June are rapidly heading toward the balance of day and night we’ll achieve in seven weeks’ time, at the next equinox.

The Celtic name for the day is Lughnasadh. But the English name, Lammas, is essentially derived from “Loaf Mass,” for this was the time of the first grain harvest of the year, and it was and is customary to bake a fresh loaf of bread today (preferably with that newly harvested grain).

Here in Lake Worth, it is the height of our summer stormy season, though this year things have been a bit dry for us. Still, we have had several dramatic days where the afternoon sky turns dark and stormy, and this is the theme for your August Book of Days calendar. It is, as usual, a printable PDF and a fine companion to this blog.

Summer lasts long here, so we’ve begun conjuring ideas of cooler days by scheduling our next open shop event: an Autumn Preview on the weekend of August 9 & 10, where we’ll be showing off all the great new items arriving for fall and for the spooky season. (We’ve got new arrivals daily right now, in the shop and at the online shop!)

Two weeks later, towards the end of the month, comes St. Bartholomew’s Day and our Second Annual Bartlemas Wayzgoose! We’ll have a commemorative print on our 1950s Nolan Tabletop Press and you’ll be the printer, and we’ll be serving homemade pizzelle (naturally, as they are made in a press). The Bartlemas Wayzgoose is a big deal for hand papermakers and letterpress printers and bookbinders, too… and I’ll gladly tell you the story of why while you’re enjoying your pizzelle and admiring your handmade Wayzgoose print.

Our two newest workshops at the shop are now posted to the website, too, and they are perhaps a natural extension of this blog: We’ll be teaching you how to make two wonderful traditional pastas. One of them has its origins in my maternal grandparents’ region of Italy. We’re so excited to offer these classes for you. You’ll make your pasta in-house with us and then take the fruits of your labor home to serve for supper that night.

Happy August. Happy Lammas.

Image: “Houses, Clouds, Late Summer” by József Rippl-Rónai. Pastel on paper, circa late nineteenth century to early twentieth century [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.