Lammas Fair Office, Ballycastle (geograph 4630804)

The Ould Lammas Fair is a traditional

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

held in Ballycastle,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, every year on the last Monday and Tuesday of August. It is associated with the

Lammas Lammas Day (Anglo-Saxon ''hlaf-mas'', "loaf-mass"), also known as Loaf Mass Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere on 1 August. The name originates from the word "loaf" in reference ...

harvest festival A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

. The fair has been running for nearly 400 years, dating back to the 17th century. Various goods are traditionally sold at the fair. These include livestock and traditional foods such as

Yellowman Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...

, a local variant of

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

and

dulse ''Palmaria palmata'', also called dulse, dillisk or dilsk (from Irish/Scottish Gaelic '/'), red dulse, sea lettuce flakes, or creathnach, is a red alga ( Rhodophyta) previously referred to as ''Rhodymenia palmata''. It grows on the northern coas ...

, a type of edible seaweed. A

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, ''The Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle O'', was written by local shopkeeper and

bog oak Bog-wood (also spelled bogwood or bog wood), also known as abonos and, especially amongst pipe smokers, as morta, is a material from trees that have been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog conditions, some ...

carver John Henry MacAuley and enhanced the local fame of the fair. MacAuley was also a well known

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

r, but died in 1937 before his song became famous. On 28 August 2001 a

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

officer discovered a large

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

in the centre of Ballycastle whilst the fair was running. After the area was cleared

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

bomb disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous Explosive device, explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functi ...

experts defused the device. The attempted attack was initially claimed by the

Red Hand Defenders The Red Hand Defenders (RHD) is an Ulster loyalism#Paramilitary and vigilante groups, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1998 by loyalists who opposed the Belfast Agreement and the loyalist ceasefires.

. However, the RUC later suggested that it was carried out by the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaig ...

. No fairs were held in 1915–18 nor 1940–45. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the fair were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

References

External links

* * *{{cite web , url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/in-pictures-thousands-enjoy-lammas-fair-2009-14468222.html , title=In Pictures: Thousands enjoy Lammas Fair 2009 – Local & National, News – Belfasttelegraph.co.uk , publisher=www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk , access-date=26 November 2009 Annual fairs Tourist attractions in County Antrim Public holidays in the United Kingdom Fairs in Northern Ireland Annual events in the United Kingdom August events Summer events in Northern Ireland