Lammas

[meridian_rose]

Magickal Graphics


Lammas occurs on the first of August. It is also celebrated as Lughnasadh. It is believed that Lammas comes from the Saxon phrase hlaf maesse, or "loaf mass."

Lammas is primarily a wheat harvest. It is a cross quarter day, falling between the midsummer solstice of Litha and the autumnal equinox of Mabon.

The Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, so while the feast bears his name and it would be considered appropriate to honour Lugh – he is, after all, the Lord of All the Arts – the feast isn't actually held to worship him per se.

Bonfires, foot races, crafting, dancing and feasting, are activities associated with Lammas/ Lughnasadh. Correspondences include wheat, grain, bread, corn dollies, hedgerow fruits, cornucopias, sunflowers and their seeds, carnelian and sardonyx, along with tools such as the scythe, the athame and the bolline*.

Colours associated with Lammas include: Bronze, Gold, Green, Orange, Red, Yellow

Alongside Lugh/Llew and Tailtiu, deities who might be honoured at this time include Cernunnos, Ceres, Demeter, Isis, Osiris, Odin and Rhiannon.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the time of Imbolc, a spring festival associated with the goddess Brigid.

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* 'In Wicca the boline (also spelled bolline) is a white-handled ritual knife, one of several magical tools used in Wicca. Unlike the athame, which in most traditions is never used for actual physical cutting, the boline is used for cutting cords and herbs, carving candles, etc. It has a small, straight or crescent-shaped blade and a handle which is traditionally white in colour.' – from the Wikipedia page. I recall from my own reading that the athame traditionally has a black handle, underscoring the duality of the two blades.

Personally I have a gorgeous letter opener that was a gift. It is in the form of a sword, complete with tiny scabbard, and I use this as my metaphorical knife or athame - I don't have a bolline, nor do I find one necessary. As a 'masculine' tool of air and intellect, it can be used for directing energy, casting circles, and so on, and thus shares many aspects with the equally phallic magical tool, the wand.

Comments

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

I love these posts, they're always so interesting :D

Also, lovely letter opener/dagger :D

[meridian_rose]

Thank you. I always try to give an overview of the major traditions associated with the dates, and I'm glad people find these posts interesting. I do rather love my letter opener; I used it as the Sword of Truth Letter Opener for my 'lots object fic challenge' :D