Today is Lammas, it is one of the 8 Pagan festivals throughout the year called a Sabbat. It marks the beginning of the harvest season. Corn and Wheat fields will be ripe and golden now ready for reaping. At this time spring and summer plants will begin to wither and drop their seeds that will be reborn next spring. The earth is going through a transition now where darkness is slowly beginning to take over light, nights will slowly become longer and days shorter. Death is taking over life as flowers begin to die, trees will drop their fruits and leaves will begin to change colour, cold will slowly start taking over warmth as we head into Autumn.
Today is also known as Lughnasadh (pronounced Loonasa) In Celtic times the day was a celebration of the great Sun God Lugh. The word Lughnasadh means 'Praise Lugh'. It was a time of giving thanks to the Sun God for the harvest and giving offerings of bread, corn and wheat to him. A bonfire would be built called a Lughfire where the offerings would be thrown into it.
This is also a celebration of the Triple Goddess (maiden, mother and crone) who after laying with the God at Beltane is now in her Mother Aspect and has given birth to the harvest bounty we see.
Lammas is a time of personal reflection and our own personal harvest of our actions and deeds, events and experiences, our gains and losses throughout this year. A time when we begin the cycle of reflection of that which is our life. At this time we begin to reap what we have sown for all our hard work we have put in throughout the year. Primarily Lammas is a time of thanksgiving, when we appreciate all we have in our lives and give thanks and show gratitude to the Gods and the earth for their life giving gifts.
The word Lammas means 'Loaf Mass' wheat and grains are a big part of the Lammas celebrations, share a loaf of bread with friends and family today, traditionally over a stew of seasonal vegetables. If you are feeling adventurous you can try to bake some bread, there is nothing like the smell of fresh bread on Lammas.
The God of the waxing Sun is the living Spirit of the corn or grain. As the corn is cut so the God (The Green Man) is cut down also. He surrenders his life so that others may be sustained by the grain, so that life can continue. He is both eaten as the bread and is then reborn as the seed returns to the earth. Death and rebirth. Everything dies and everything is reborn. This is our whisper of immortality and the wonderful bittersweet of Lammas.
On our alter we should put harvest grains and ripe fruit to honour the season and as an offering to the God and Goddess. Also add fresh bread, any fallen leaves and nuts are also traditional. Make a corn dolly or a wheat dolly and put it in the central part of your home to bring luck, protection and prosperity for the rest of the year.
Lammas is a time of excitement and magic. The natural world is thriving around us, and yet the knowledge that everything will soon die looms in the background. Now It is a good time to rid yourself of all that is old to allow in the new.
All that dies shall be reborn,
All that falls shall rise again.
Lammas Blessings, may the God and Goddess watch over you.
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