
08/08/2025
It's the kids' favourite time of the year. The Lammas Market is BACK. From today (8th August) Market Street is taken over with rides and stalls for young and old, and on Sunday and Monday, South Street joins the fun with the 'bigger' rides - 4 days of joy.
A wee bit of history for anyone interested in what the Lammas is ...
Lammas dates back to the pagan festival of harvest, celebrating the first harvest of the year as new loaves were brought into church to be blessed. The Scottish Festival of Lammas became a holiday which would be held as a local gathering, to sell crop and celebrate the hard work that goes in to bringing it to harvest to feed the town.
In the weeks leading up to Lammas Day, communities were at their highest risk of starving, as food stock from previous harvest’s depleted. The celebration heralded the new harvest and the hope of a return to more prosperous times.
At the end of the 20th century, only two Lammas Fairs remained, one of which was aptly in the historic town of St Andrews. And the tradition remains!