Lammas

[meridian_rose]

Magickal Graphics


Lammas occurs on the first or second 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.

Lughnassadh means “the commemoration of Lugh” and appears in variant spellings across the Celtic languages. The Lughnasadh festival is sometimes said to have been begun by the god Lugh, Lord of all the Arts, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu

Celebrations often feature the death of the Corn King. He is the god of grain who dies and is reborn.

Bonfires, foot races, crafting, dancing, baking and feasting, are activities associated with Lammas/ Lughnasadh. Spiritually, this is a time for harvesting goals and ideas, the time of reaping what one has sown, reverence, purification, transformation, prosperity, generosity

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

Correspondences include
sheaves of grain, wheat, bread, corn
corn dollies, cornucopias, acorns, rose hips, drums
first vegetables,hedgerow fruits, sunflowers and their seeds, early apples, potatoes,
cider, beer, mead, fruit wines, such as blackberry or elderberry wine
carnelian, citrine Amber Peridot sardonyx,
bladed tools such as the scythe, the athame and the bolline.
griffins, basilisks, roosters, calves, centaurs, phoenix

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.

Personal Reflections

Lugh is a god I hold dear, so this festival has special meaning for me. Because the emphasis is on fortune and harvesting it feels happier to me than Litha. On my altar I place a wheat sheaf which I made years ago from salt dough.

I have a small pot of grain in the garden. Last year the grain did not grow at all. This year it sprouted during the heavy rains but hasn't quite turned golden yet. I usually put an ear on my altar.

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Selected Sources/further reading
http://fuckyeahpaganism.tumblr.com/post/27793664899/lunasa-lughnasadh-fire-festival-august-1st-2nd
http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com/lammas.html