Holiday name	Lammasalso known as Lambess
Type	Historical
Longtype	Cultural, Religious (Pagan, Christian)
Observedby	EnglandScotlandPagans(Neo-pagans, Wiccans)Christians(Catholics, Anglicans)
Date	1 August (northern hemisphere) 1 February (southern hemisphere)
Celebrations	HandfastingFuneral GamesFirst Fruits
Observances	Loaves made from the grain collected at harvest.
Relatedto	Lughnasadh }}

In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day (loaf-mass day), the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first or the sixth of August (the latter being the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ). The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (died 604) specifies the sixth.

In mediæval times the feast was known as the "Gule of August", but the meaning of "gule" is unclear. Ronald Hutton suggests that it may be an Anglicisation of ''Gŵyl Awst'', the Welsh name for August 1 meaning "feast of August", but this is perhaps an overly-complicated extraction. Most etymological dictionaries give it an origin similar to gullet; from O.Fr. goulet, dim. of goule "throat, neck," from L. gula "throat,". One can see why Hutton feels differently as this Welsh derivation would point to a pre-Christian origin for Lammas among the Anglo-Saxons and a link to the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh.

There are several historical references to it being known as Lambess eve, such as 'Publications of the Scottish Historical Society' 1964 and this alternative name is the origin of the Lambess surname, just as Hallowmass and Christmas were also adopted as familial titles.

Christian

The feast of St. Peter in Chains, known as Lammas Day in English speaking countries, is a feast commemorating St Peter's miraculous deliverance from prison. The name is from loaf-mass, bread-feast; so called because on this day offerings were originally made of the first-fruits of harvest, the Catholic Church baptizing the pagan festival in the tradition of the Hebrew First Fruits.

Pre-Industrial

In ''The Every-Day Book'' by William Hone (published: 1838), he speaks of a festival common among Scottish farmers near Edinburgh that happens on August 1, or "Lammas Day." He says that they "build towers...leaving a hole for a flag-pole in the center so that they may raise their colors." When the flags over the many peat-constructed towers were raised, farmers would go to others' towers and attempt to "level them to the ground." A successful attempt would bring great praise. However, people were allowed to defend their towers, and so everyone was provided with a "tooting-horn" to alert nearby country folk of the impending attack and the battle would turn into a "brawl." According to Hone, more than four people had died at this festival and many more were injured. At the day's end, races were held, with prizes given to the townspeople.

Neo-Paganism

Lammas is a Neo-Pagan holiday, often called Lughnasadh, celebrating the first harvest and the reaping of grain. It is a cross-quarter holiday halfway between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumnal Equinox (Mabon). In the northern hemisphere, Lammas takes place around August 1 with the Sun near the midpoint of Leo in the tropical zodiac, while in the southern hemisphere Lammas is celebrated around February 1 with the Sun near the midpoint of Aquarius. On the Wheel of the Year, it is opposite Imbolc, which is celebrated on February 2 in the northern hemisphere, and late July / early August in the southern hemisphere.

Other uses

Lammas is one of the Scottish quarter days.

''Lammas leaves'' or ''Lammas growth'' refers to a second crop of leaves produced in high summer by some species of trees in temperate countries to replace those lost to insect damage. They often differ slightly in shape, texture and/or hairiness from the earlier leaves.

See also

Harvest festival

Harvest Home

Ould Lammas Fair

Leyton Marshes

References

''The Stations of the Sun'', Ronald Hutton, Oxford 1996

(1.3.19),''Romeo and Juliet'', William Shakespeare, "Come Lammas Eve at night shall she [Juliet] be fourteen." Since Juliet was born Lammas eve, she came before the harvest festival, which is significant since her life ended before she could reap what she had sown and enjoy the bounty of the harvest, in this case full consummation and enjoyment of her love with Romeo.

'Publications of the Scottish Historical Society' 1964

External links

Pretanic World Pre-Christian Holidays & Pre-Christian Traditions of Christian Holidays from Britain and Ireland

Gule of August

Observations on Popular Antiquities

Category:Neopagan holidays Category:Christian festivals and holy days Category:August observances Category:Holidays in Scotland

cy:Gŵyl Galan Awst es:Lammas it:Lammas nn:Lammas

name	The Corries
background	group_or_band
origin	Scotland
instrument	guitar, banjo, mandolin, bodhrán, combolin , harmonica , tin whistle, bouzouki, concertina, Northumbrian smallpipes, banduria, psaltery, flute
genre	Scottish folk
years active	1960s–1990
associated acts	The Corrie Folk Trio, The Corrie Folk Trio & Paddie Bell
website	http://www.corries.com
current members	Ronnie Browne
past members	Roy Williamson, Bill Smith, Paddie Bell
notable instruments	combolin }}

The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. Although the group was a trio in the early days, it was as the partnership of Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne that it is best known.

Early years

Roy Williamson was born in 1936 in Edinburgh, Lothian. His mother played the piano. At school he learned to play the recorder by ear, pretending to read music. The teacher found out and banned him from music lessons. He went to Wester Elchies School, then Aberlour House and Gordonstoun in Moray. He taught seamanship and navigation at Burghead before going to Edinburgh College of Art. It was there that he met Ronnie Browne in 1955. The partnership lasted over thirty years.

Williamson teamed up with Bill Smith (born William Smith, in 1936, in Edinburgh) and Ron Cruikshank to form the "Corrie Folk Trio" in 1962. Their first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks Cruikshank left. They had already accepted an engagement at the Edinburgh Festival so Williamson suggested that Ronnie Browne should be brought in to make up numbers. They also added female Irish singer Paddie Bell to become the "Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell". The audience was only eight people for the debut of this line-up but by the end of the festival it was house full at every performance. A corrie is a deep bowl in the high Scottish mountains familiar to lovers of the Highlands. They chose it to evoke the Scottish landscape.

Television success

Within a year they appeared on television. Williamson and Browne were art teachers, Smith was an architect and Bell was a secretary. In 1964 they topped the bill at a show with The Dubliners at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. The BBC began a television series set in a folk club. The resident group at the "Hoot'nanny Show" was the Corrie Folk Trio. This meant they became full-time professionals. Within two years Paddie Bell and Bill Smith left. Williamson was a talented multi-instrumentalist and Browne was the singer. They cancelled all engagements for a few months to practise intensively. Under the new name, "The Corries", they performed at the Jubilee Arms Hotel in Cortachy, Angus. The response encouraged them to continue.

Another BBC series "The White Heather Club" began in 1958. It featured Andy Stewart, Jimmy Shand and his Band, Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, and the Corries. While the rest of the show was set in a studio, the Corries were filmed in location: sea songs were sung in a harbour, "Braes o' Killiecrankie" was sung at the Pass of Killiecrankie, and so on. They were effectively pioneers of the music video.

The Combolins

''Main Article'': Combolin

Williamson was a skilled woodworker. In the summer of 1969 he invented the 'combolins', two complementary instruments which combined several into a single instrument. One combined a mandolin and a guitar (along with four bass strings operated with slides), the other combined guitar and the Spanish bandurria, the latter being an instrument Williamson had played since the early days of the Corrie Folk Trio.

Originally conceived as a way to combine several of the many instruments they carried around on tour - the Corries' long row of chairs behind them on stage bearing instruments is legendary - the combolins in fact became an additional two instruments for the tour van. Most often, Browne played the guitar/mandolin instrument with bass strings, and Williamson the other, which also had 13 sympathetic strings designed to resonate like the Indian sitar. The wood for the instruments was obtained from antique hardwood furniture as well as premium grade Tyrolean spruce, and featured Williamson's artistic embellishments in silver and mother of pearl.

The Corries' next album, ''Strings and Things'' (1970), was specifically designed to showcase the new instruments and featured detailed descriptions of them on the rear sleeve. Many consider it to be their best album. On stage, when the combolins were played, the Corries would swap their seating position around from the conventional Williamson to Browne's right. Usually the combolins were played to accompany long ballads such as ''The Silkie of Sule Skerry'' and ''The Gartan Mother's Lullaby'', as well as a number of the compositions of Peebles baker George Weir, including ''Lord Yester'' and ''Weep ye Weel by Atholl''.

The immense strain on the instruments caused by the multitude of strings meant they needed regular maintenance later in their life, and one of Williamson's best friends, instrument repairer David Sinton, maintained them. After Williamson's death, Sinton was bequeathed the two combolins. He has since issued a CD of tunes played on them, ''Caledonian Sunset'', although it took many years to perfect the playing of these complex instruments, as well as deal with the undoubted emotional difficulty in playing them.

Commercial success

The early 1970s saw the Corries reach their peak of popularity. They had several albums in the top 50 album charts in Scotland, and released a single: - "Flower of Scotland" (1974). It includes Flower of Scotland and Roses of Prince Charlie. It was quickly adopted by world lightweight boxing champion Ken Buchanan whose fans sang it on his entering the ring. It was then taken up by supporters of rugby football as the unofficial national anthem and is still used at Scotland's rugby internationals. It has also been adopted as the national anthem at international football matches. The Corries' concerts frequently had the audience joining in spontaneously in the chorus of songs. The duo became closely identified with Jacobite songs, celebrating the final years of clan loyalty and military courage. In 1977, one of their best albums ''Peat Fire Flame'' was released. This saw a move towards love songs and celebrations of the landscape.

As a young man, Roy Williamson played rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers. However, he suffered from asthma and before a series of concerts he would deliberately cease treatment in order to provoke attacks and gain temporary immunity. During the Corries' 1989 tour, Williamson's health went into decline and he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He spent his last years living in Forres, close to where he spent his school years. He died on 12 August 1990.

Ronnie Browne continued recording and moved into acting, as well as expanding his career as a noted painter, including commissions for the 1990 Scottish Rugby team's Grand Slam victory. He toured as a soloist for a few years after Williamson's death, and even released a solo album, but never reached the same level of success that he achieved as part of the duo. He has now retired from performing.

Paddie Bell made some solo albums following her departure from the trio, most notably with Irish musicians Finbar and Eddie Furey, but withdrew from the folk scene followed by a period of dependency on alcohol and anti-depressant medication. In the 1990s Bell, with the help of several friends and fans on the folk scene in Edinburgh, revived her singing career with a couple of new recordings and became something of a celebrity again. She died in 2005 aged 74.

In December 2007, The Corries were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame at the Scottish Trad Music Awards in Fort William, promoted by concertina virtuoso Simon Thoumire's Hands Up for Trad organisation.

Discography (original studio/live recordings)

The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell (1964)

The Promise Of The Day (1965)

Those Wild Corries (1966)

Bonnet, Belt and Sword (1967)

Kishmul's Galley (1968)

Scottish Love Songs (1969)

Strings and Things (1970)

In Retrospect (1970)

Sound The Pibroch (1972)

A Little Of What You Fancy (1973)

Live from Scotland Volume 1 (1974)

Live from Scotland Volume 2 (1975)

Live from Scotland Volume 3 (1975)

Live from Scotland Volume 4 (1977)

Peat Fire Flame (1977)

Spotlight On The Corries (1977)

Stovies (album) (1980) (live)

A Man's A Man (1980)

The Dawning of the Day (1982) (live)

Love From Scotland (1983) (compilation)

Scotland Will Flourish (1985) (live)

Barrett's Privateers (1987) (live)

The Bonnie Blue (1988) (live)

Flower of Scotland (1990) (new live recording on BBC Records)

Many of the Corries recordings have now been reissued on CD by Moidart Music, a company set up originally to release Williamson's posthumous Long Journey South solo album. The recordings are now overseen by Browne's son Gavin, who runs the official Corries website, along with original recording engineer Allan Spence and David Sinton.

External links

The Official Corries Merchandise Outlet

theBalladeers Scotland

The Corries online Museum by Moray Council

The Corries Discography

Category:Scottish folk musicians Category:Scottish folk music groups

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