Lammas
Lammas
Lammas marks the end of the Summer and the beginning of Autumn. The days are starting to grow shorter and the nights longer. This holiday is one of the High Holidays or Greater Sabbats. Lammas was the medieval Christian name for Loaf Mass because it was on this day that loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and placed on the church altars as offering.
Lammas is celebrated for the Celtic God Lugh (meaning light or shining). He was known to be the patron of all the arts, traveling and influence in money and commerce. Lugh was the son of Arianrhod associated with Kingship and threefold death. His wife was Blodeuwedd also known as the flower maiden.
Lammas is the first of three harvest festivals; Mabon and Samhain being the last two, which celebrate the ripening of the grains and the corns. Pagans view this theme as the celebration of the God known as the “Green man” , “Wicker Man” or the “Corn Man” and his time to sacrifice himself so that rebirth can begin in the Spring. This ritual of the gathering of crops tells of the success as well as the power raised during the Beltaine Fires when the Sacred Marriage of the Lord and Lady took place, representing sexuality and reproduction as well as a remaining good harvest.
This Sabbat is a celebration of the bread, as bread was the main staple of our ancestors and a good grain harvest was cause for rejoice. The reaping, threshing and preparation of the grains were all parts of elaborate rituals and the ceremonies were hoped to ensure bountiful harvests the following year. This time of year does find us harvesting in the fields and gathering crops that will hold us through the long winter months. While it is still warm and sunny outdoors we can see the noticeable change in the days length and realize that winter is not far away.
Below are suggestions for ways to celebrate Lammas in your own home with your family or as a solitary:
- Sacrifice unwanted or bad habits from your life by throwing symbols of them into the Sabbat fire.
- Harvest fruits and vegetables from your garden. If you don’t have one of your own you might consider visiting one of the local farms.
- Gather your tools of harvest together and bless them to ensure a richer harvest next year.
- Share your harvest with those less fortunate.
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