Lammas,
also called Lughnasadh, falls at the beginning of the harvest season. Apples
are ready and grain is beginning to ripen.
The word Lammas derives from the Old English phrase hlaf-mas, which translates to loaf mass. It is
the first of the three autumn harvest festivals, the other two being the autumn
equinox and Samhain. In early Christian times,
the first loaves of the season were blessed by the Church. The loaf was blessed and in England it might
be employed afterwards to work magic: A book of Anglo-Saxon charms directed
that the lammas bread be broken into four bits, which were to be placed at the
four corners of the barn, to protect the garnered grain.
Lammas
in Norse is compared to Freyfaxi, or Freyr Fest, marking the
beginning of the harvest. As a fertility deity Freyr would be intimately tied to the
land and the food grown upon it. It was a time for
celebration with horse races and a feast for God Freyr. Thor was also honored
as is his wife Sif, whose golden hair reminds us the wheat fields.
Traditionally, three stalks of the first grains are bound together into a sheaf
and kept as an amulet of fortune. Sometimes it was also left in the field for
Odin’s horse Sleipnir.
Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can
celebrate Lammas, but typically the focus is on either the early harvest aspect
or the celebration of the Celtic
God Lugh, Norse Freyr or others. It's the season when the first grains are ready to be harvested and
threshed, when the apples and grapes are ripe for the plucking and we're
grateful for the food we have on our tables.
In
some Wiccan traditions, Lammas is the time of year when the Goddess takes on the
aspects of the Harvest Mother. The Earth is fruitful and abundant, crops are
bountiful, and livestock are fattening up for winter. However, the Harvest
Mother knows that the cold months are coming, and so she encourages us to begin
gathering up what we can. This is the season for harvesting corn and grain, so
that we can bake bread to store and have seeds for next year's planting.
Ironically,
today this is probably the least-honored Wiccan festival. As we've become industrialized, harvest
celebrations have all but been forgotten. Our daily bread comes not from the
bounteous fields, nor gifted of the generosity of the Earth Goddess and the
Corn God, but bought plastic-wrapped in bulk at a supermarket. As global food production teeters on its
delicate framework of agribusiness, cheap oil, chemical pesticides and
fertilizers, nuclear irradiation, and now genetically-engineered non-reproductive
seeds - not to mention climate change - we would benefit by remembering just
how crucial the farmers' harvests are to our continued well-being.
Honoring the Past
In
our modern world, it's often easy to forget the trials and tribulations our
ancestors had to endure. For us, if we need a loaf of bread, we simply drive
over to the local grocery store and buy a few bags of prepackaged bread. If we
run out, it's no big deal, we just go and get more. When our ancestors lived,
hundreds and thousands of years ago, the harvesting and processing of grain was
crucial. If crops were left in the fields too long, or the bread not baked in
time, families could starve. Taking care of one's crops meant the difference
between life and death.
By
celebrating Lammas as a harvest
holiday, we honor our ancestors and the hard work they must have had
to do in order to survive. This is a good time to give thanks for the abundance
we have in our lives and to be grateful for the food on our tables. Go outside and thank the ancestors with bread, fruit or other gifts. Lammas is
a time of transformation, of rebirth and new beginnings.Feasting and Food
Bread is the ultimate symbol of the Lammas season.
After all, once the grain is harvested, it is milled and baked into bread,
which is then consumed. It is the cycle of the harvest come full circle. The spirit
of the grain God lives on through us in the eating of the bread. In many
traditions, a loaf of special bread is baked in the shape of a man, to
symbolize the God of the harvest. You can easily make a loaf of Lammas bread by
using a pre-made loaf of bread dough, found in the frozen food section in your grocery store.
Certainly, you can make your own dough, but if you're not much of a baker, this
is an easy alternative.
Bread recipe:
Warm in saucepan or microwave until very warm: 1 cup
water, 3/8 cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses. Mix in: ½ cup
whole wheat flour, 1 cup white all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 package
active dry yeast, 1 cage-free egg. Let sit five minutes. Add ½ cup whole wheat
flour, ½ cup yellow corn meal, and enough white all-purpose flour to make a
dough (about 1 more cup).
Turn out on floured surface. Knead until smooth.
Grease a bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn dough so that all its surface is
greased. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes. Punch down
dough and knead. Grease cookie sheet. Form dough into God or Goddess figure on
cookie sheet, decorating according to your preference. Remember the dough will
swell as it rises and cooks. Let rise again, 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375
degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool.
Tear
and eat. Don't forget to leave some for
you divine friends and ancestors.
You
will probably have too much dough. Use the excess to create a second figure or
make rolls.
Experiment
with other kinds of flour and meal, as desired.
First Fruit of the Year
This time is also honored as the First Fruit Festival, place the first fruit of the
year on your alter as decorations during your ceremony. These may include
berries, apples, peaches, plums, etc... If you can, go to an outdoor market or to the field and pick up your divine gifts. The cold months are coming, so enjoy the outdoors while you can.
Prayer for the Grain
Fields
of gold,
waves of grain,
the summer comes to a close.
The harvest is ready,
ripe for threshing,
as the sun fades into autumn.
Flour will be milled,
bread will be baked,
and we shall eat for another winter.
waves of grain,
the summer comes to a close.
The harvest is ready,
ripe for threshing,
as the sun fades into autumn.
Flour will be milled,
bread will be baked,
and we shall eat for another winter.
Justice,
equity and compassion in human relations.
