Lammas August 1-2

Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest season. Seeds sown in the spring are now golden sheaves of greain and summer squashes gleam yellow from under their canopies of green leaves. Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2. Summer is at it’s height but the light is already starting to dwindle. Lammas honors the passing of the light and the reaping of grain. It is the cross-quarter holiday between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumnal Equinox (Mabon).  The Celts refer to the holiday as Lughnasad, after the Grain God Lugh – the Many-skilled God, in the arts and skills of human culture. At this time, the Goddess takes the form of the Harvest Mother. She is glowingly pregnant and is attended proudly by her consort and protector the Sun God. Since the summer Solstice his power is waning as he makes his descent into the Otherworld.  The first sheaf of wheat is ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so that the people might live.

It is at this time, we also honor our hopes and fears. We hope that we will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors, but there is still a lot that could happen. The hills are dry, but the fruit is ripe. The bees are active and the honey represents the sunny sweetness. We must continue to nurture and protect what we have planted. We honor our teachers for all the learning they have brought into our lives.

Come together with friends and family, to play games, to make peace, to enjoy the bounty and to be generous. Our rituals honor the Earth’s abundance as we bake bread in the shape of a man or woman to represent the God and Goddess or create corn dollies.

RITUAL + Bake the Bread of Life - Bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you’ve never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on the mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you’ve harvested–herbs or onion or corn–to your bread. If you don’t feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread, or gingerbread people, or chocolate chip cookie people or popcorn. Have fun with it. What’s most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.

ALTAR + Beginning to Harvest. Celebrate the beginning of the harvest. Create an altar of harvested items – fresh veggies, fruits and grains, woven baskets, bread, honey. I like to pile on the squash and the tiny tomatoes! The sun is still hot so use a combination of summer and fall colors – yellow, red, orange – as well as colors that represent the fertility of the earth. Lugh is the god of skills and creativity. Put items that represent your gifts and talents, along with items that represent skills you would like to develop. Images and representations of your Hopes & Fears. At the end of Lammas, burn the fears (safely.)

Celebrate Lunar Lammas on the first full moon after  August 1-2

Resources
Sapphire Moon
Lugh
The Circle Round by Starhawk

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