August

August 1, Fiesta Day (Nicaragua)

August 2, Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)

August 3, Drimes Day in Greece with offerings to the dead, all-night parties and bonfires in vineyards and orchards

August 4, Dom Perignon invents champagne in 1693— celebrate!

August 5, Grasmere Rush Bearing Festival in Cumbria, England, dating back to the medieval custom of weaving flooring for cathedrals

August 6, Peace Ceremony for World War II bombing of Hiroshima

August 7, Feast of Hathor (Ancient Egypt)

August 8, Dog Days in Japan, or Doyo

August 9, Nagasaki Peace Ceremony in Japan

August 10, Celebration of the Goddess of Reason, established 1793 in France

August 11, Puck Fair in Killarney, Ireland 

August 12, International Youth Day

August 13, Feast of Vertumnus, god of seasons, gardens, and trees, in Rome

August 14, Ferragosto, Italy’s traditional mid-August holiday 

August 15, Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary

August 16, Saint Roch’s Procession in France and Italy 

August 17, Potunis in Italy; Marcus Garvey Day for Rastafarians

August 18, St. Helen’s Day Pilgrimage

August 19, Roman Vinalia Rustica in honor of Venus since 293 BCE

August 20, Szent Isvan Napja, Day of St. Stephen, in Hungary

August 21, Consualia in honor of Consus, god of seeds, grain, and harvest

August 22, Feast of the Queenship of Mary, Star of the Sea, since 1954

August 23, Paper Costume Parade and Holy Bath Day in Portugal

August 24, St. Bartholomew’s Day

August 25, Opiconsivia, festival to the goddess Ops

August 26, Feast day of Luonnatar, Finnish goddess of fertility

August 27, Birth of Isis

August 28, St. Augustine’s Day to honor Augustine of Hippo (354-430), leading Christian theologian and Father of the Church

August 29, Festival of St. John, commemorating his death 

August 30, Santa Rosa (Mexico); Saint Rose of Lima (Peru)

August 31, Anant Chaturdasi, a women’s purification festival (Hindu)

The Romans honored Demeter, the grain mother and overseer of the harvest, during August. The Celts celebrated Lughnassadh in honor of Lugh, their god of many skills. Lughnassadh was adopted and adapted by the Christian church as Lammas (“Loaf-mass”) and is still celebrated. The custom is that when the first grain is harvest, it must be baked into a loaf and offered to Lugh as thanks for healthy crops. Native Americans called August the Corn Moon, and the Franks referred to this time of year as Aranmanoth, The Corn Ears Month.