Lammas:
A compilation from my spellbook. Disclaimer- I'm not a professional researcher, and I've been told John Gregorson Campbell is an unreliable source.
I believe the book listed these under "Lúnastal". Lists the date as August 1/12th. This was a great day for saining cattle, and performing ceremonies to keep evil away from them for the next three months. Tar was put on their tails and ears, charms were said at their udders, and red and blue threads were put on their tails. Curds and butter were specially prepared for a great feast held this day, at which it was highly important that everyone got as much as they cared for. On Lammas day the gadfly 'loses one of its eyes.' The creature is not so vicious after this date. -Campbell, John Gregorson. The Gaelic Otherworld: John Gregorson Campbell's Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands. Edited by Ronald Black, Birlinn, 2005.
"The pagan Irish wer fire worshipers, and this was one of the five great fire festivals of the year, the others being celebrated respectivly at the beginning of spring-about Saint Bridget's day; at midsummer on Saint John's day; at Lughnas or the beginning of August," -Mooney, James. "The Holiday Customs of Ireland." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 26, no. 130, 1889, pp. 377–427.
"The book is an exhaustive study of the festival of Lughnasa (lst August)," "The book uncovers the importance of Lughnasa in the traditional calendar - an importance evidenced by the 195 known sites throughout the country bearing witness to the survival of this feast. Survivals of the feast celebrating the Celtic god Lugh are not readily identifiable to the casual contemporary observer. Due to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar the date of the celebration has often shifted from 1st August, and furthermore, since 1st August was not a Church holiday, the feast often came to be celebrated on the preceding or following Sunday, thus occasioning some of its more popular contemporary appellations - Domhnach Chrom Dubh, Garland, Bilberry or Mountain Sunday. Although a number of scholars had previously pointed out individual instances of survivals of the feast, it was not until this book was published that the widspread nature of the survivals became evident and the totality of the festival pattern was unfolded. Welcoming the harvest and savouring the first of its produce formed the basis of this celebration, and consequently, the first cutting and eating of the corn, and (later) the first digging and eating of the potatoes, were central to the feast. The form of the festivities varied according to the location of the assembly site. Sites on mountains or eminences were especially favoured, and on these the picking of bilberries was a constant feature of the festival. On these sites also, flowers were gathered and strewn on the summit, or were worn as garlands by girls. Dancing on heights is mentioned in most of the accounts, and courtship and flirtation were a further feature of the festival. On lake or river sites the swimming of horses formed an important part of the festivities. The myth underlying the feast of Lughnasa is investigated and is shown to celebrate a struggle between two gods, in which the victor Lugh - later replaced by St. Patrick - vanquishes the wicked Crom Dubh and so makes available the bounty of the harvest." -Ó Héalaí, Pádraig. Review of The Festival of Lughnasa: A Study of the Survival of the Celtic Festival of the Beginning of the Harvest, by Máire Mac Neill. Béaloideas, iml. 51, 1983, pp. 145–147.
