In pre-Christian times the Oidhche Lugnasa was celebrated by the Celts on this night in honor of their solar deity named Lugh. His annual sacrifice at the end of the harvest ensured the fertility of the corn and grain for the next growing season.

An old August Eve tradition in rural Scotland is predicting the following year's marriages and deaths by throwing sickles into the air and then drawing omens from the position in which they fall.

On this date in the year 1831, famous mystic and spiritualist-medium Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was born in the Ukraine.

Date of fabled meeting of British Witches to raise cone of power to stop Hitler's invasion of England, 1940.