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| Lammas Fair |
Tue 04 September 2007 |
On the last Monday and Tuesday of August each year the famous
"Ould Lammas Fair" of Ballycastle is held. It is a, real
old time festival, the main characteristics of which have
been wonderfully preserved down to the present day.
The exact origin of the now famous Lammas fair is uncertain. One theory is that it began as a result of the
occupation of the Route and Glens of Antrim by the Macdonnells of the Isles. In the early part of the sixteenth century, this powerful clan apparently chose the district where Ballycastle now stands as its headquarters. Thus it was in some such circumstances that the Lammas Fair had its origin.
The Ould Lammas Fair Song:
At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle long ago
I met a pretty colleen who set me heart a-glow
She was smiling at her daddy buying lambs from Paddy Roe
At the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O!
Sure I seen her home that night
When the moon was shining bright
From the ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O!
Chorus
At the ould Lammas Fair boys were you ever there
Were you ever at the Fair In Ballycastle-O?
Did you treat your Mary Ann
To some Dulse and Yellow Man
At the ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O!
In Flander's fields afar while resting from the War
We drank Bon Sante to the Flemish lassies O!
But the scene that haunts my memory is kissing Mary Ann
Her pouting lips all sticky from eating Yellow Man
As we passed the silver Margy and we strolled along the strand
From the ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle-O!
Repeat Chorus
There's a neat little cabin on the slopes of fair Knocklayde
It's lit by love and sunshine where the heather honey's made
With the bees ever humming and the children's joyous call
Resounds across the valley as the shadows fall
Sure I take my fiddle down and my Mary smiling there
Brings back a happy mem'ry of the Lammas Fair
Repeat Chorus
Ould Lammas Fair |
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