Lammas Lughnasadh Blessings
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Lammas is celebrated on the 1st of August in the Northern Hemisphere and on the 1st of February in the Southern. And the first loaves of bread made from it, used to be offered on the altar as a way of thanksgiving for the harvest. In many European cultures it is a tradition to bake a loaf of bread from the crop harvested at Lammastide.
Happy Lughnasadh or Lammas Blessings!
1st of August is the celebration of Celtic Harvest Festival Lughnasadh . Both cutting of the first grain and the last are the significant source of many traditions. It is a time to be grateful for the harvest, to gather and feast and be thankful for the abundance Summer season provides. According to mythology the Union of Sun and Earth, of God and Goddess, has produced the First Harvest.
When the first grains are collected and the first fruits such as apple and begin to ripen and would have been celebrated and given as offerings by our ancestors. Many of these long forgotten traditions have survived until today. The early harvest has been celebrated for thousands of years in a way or another and of course it is surrounded by myths and folklore but Lughnasadh that also has had a revival among neopagans. This day is also celebrated by Christians and other religions as "Loaf Mass Day"
It was believed that picking the fruits before Lammas was bad luck and now on we begin the "Lammastide" or "Lammas Season" with the hail bales piled in the fields, grain being stored and fruits ripening :)
It feels like a time to celebrate our bountiful treasures 🌾 But before making bread the sheaves of grain must be cut down.
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Above: Corn bunting against golden fields
Honouring the harvest has been important since ancient times and it generated many celebrations around it.
For example harvest was celebrated in Scotland from at least medieval times and was known as the ‘Gule of August’ (from 'gwyl' in welsh meaning festival or feast). It is also registered in early Irish documents.
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As many other ancient pagan celebrations, festivities became also a religious celebration later on (around in the Middle Ages). And thus Lughnasadh was transformed into Lammas, a word that comes from Anglo-Saxon ‘hlaf-maesse’ (Loaf-mass) in Old English. It is in fact known as Loaf Mass Day as a Christian holiday nowadays as well. And as mentioned it is also tradition to bake bread made from the first harvest both in pagan and Christian celebrations.
This bread would be used as an offering and would be be blessed by the church and would protect the harvest.
These customs remain very popular all over Europe and it has extended to many other countries.
Both offering those first loaves of bread to God or to Nature and other deities takes origin in the same place... gratefulness for what the land provides
Given the current state of the world, I think it is important to remember the utter importance of this simple truth that we rely on the goods from the Earth to keep us fed. And above all practice gratefulness.
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The first of 3 Harvest celebrations
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Lammas is the first of three harvest celebrations, this first corresponding to the grain, and it is indeed a time to gather and celebrate and give thanks for the abundance. Later on the year we will a time for gathering in and giving thanks for abundance as as the wheel of the year keeps on turning and the cycle brings us to the autumn equinox (Mabon) Second Harvest of Fruit, and Samhain (mostly known as Halloween) is the third and Final Harvest of Nuts and Berries.
As you notice all of these "important" turning points or cycles in the wheel of the year are linked to astronomic dates of importance (solstices, equinoxes and all their midpoints) and ultimately reflect the seasons as Earth circles around the Sun.
Symbolically it is also a time to wonder what we want to harvest in our life... what we are doing to plant and collect.
What we are growing... So always a good time for some "abundance" affirmations.
So with Lughnasadh (Lammas) we reach now the middle of the season and the fields have grown the cereal. This is a time to celebrate the abundance that will continue from now until Autumn and we are grateful for the food that is coming to our table.
The Sun God and Mother Grain
Lughnasadh takes name from the Celtic God of Sun Lugh.
Lugh, is a Celtic God Son associated with this time of year. Also in addition to this there are several deities of the fields connected to the harvest. Some versions say that Lughnasadh made this celebration to honour his foster mother Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion from clearing the plains in Ireland and getting the land ready for agriculture. Other versions is that it's his marriage. Either way, the first harvest is celebrated and it is halfway between the summer solstice and Autumn equinox. In a way as before and after a way to worship the importance of the grain that would be vital to endure the winter. A time to celebrate abundance and gratitude.
It was believed that the spirit of the fields was attached to the grain so when cut you "cut" the spirit also. The Sun God, Lugh, is also known as "John Barley Corn" (The light of the fields) that gives up his life so others can be sustained with the crops he provides. And then he is eaten as the bread but reborn next year as we plant seeds that will grow again thus returning to the earth. That is why seeds were also preserved, the same way as "corn dolls" would preserve the spirit Mother grain until planted again.
Ceres was the Roman Goddess of agriculture whose spirit lingered in the corn fields at harvest time/ Lammas (August 1st) She is found in the last sheaf of corn taken from the field. And we see this same idea with Mother of Grain deities and Lugh as well. Also the Greek Goddess Demeter taught humans how to farm.
These and other "Mother grain" deities inspired the tradition of making every dolls out of the harvest.
Traditions
As we have mentioned baking a bread with the flour of the first grains is the most typical offering. And it would be bestowed almost mystical properties to protect and bring good fortune (whether pagans setting an altar or Christians offering it to the church) Lammas implies lots of baking ;-)
As it is a celebration of the life that Sun brings, hiking to the sunny hills and picking flowers (like marygold) is also a custom linked to this date.
At Lammas, drops of specially-prepared water were sprinkled around the home to protect them from harm.
Making Corn dolls made of reeds and straws collected from the edge of the fields (rye, wheat, oats). Sometimes ribbons (green and gold most common) and lace would be added. These dolls would symbolize "Mother Grain" Corn is actually a word that means "grain". As mentioned before it was believed that these deities of the fields would live in the crop itself and they were made as a symbol to the spirit that had been collected until the sees were ploughed back to the fields again. Same idea as with Lugh.
In fact collecting and preserving "seeds" for next year is part of the intrinsic traditions of this celebration.
Setting up an altar is also common and corn, wheat, sunflowers and first apples are commonly present. But overall the "Lammas bread"
And Feasting :)
It celebrates with gratitude the bounty of the first harvest. Typical foods made of grain, blackberries, grapes and wine baked good made out of the first harvest.
Some of my music videos inspired by this time of the year
I've shared these songs before as well as details of the making of each of one of the videos but as they are all fitting and dealing with this time time of the year: Mother (Original), Fields of Gold (Cover) and Ligo (traditional)
Fields of Gold
This is my cover of Fields of Gold, a song by Sting but released as a "Lammas" special two years ago
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THE RIGS O' BARLEY ( by Robert Burns, 1821)
It was upon a Lammas night,
When corn rings are bonnie,
I kiss'd her o'er and o'er again
Amang the rigs o' barley."
Always wondered if this inspired Sting's Fields of Gold
Mother (A Lammas Incantation) - Incantations and SUNFLOWERS
I released "Mother" on Lammas/lughnasadh in gratefulness for all Nature provides. It is in fact am original song I composed inspired by the harvest and the fruits of Nature. Sunflowers are now carrying the seeds and are associated with wealth, prosperity and light, sunflowers turn to face the sun. THANK YOU MOTHER
Above: Sunflower that grew spontaneously in the garden... some accidental seeds :) probably taken during the filming of "Mother" but this year it has surprised me with this lovely flower and according to lore and tradition, this vibrant "fallen sun" is meant to bring me luck :) At this time of the year sunflowers heads are full of seeds :) so they are often in Lammas offerings too.
Sunflowers themselves are surrounded by lots of traditions and superstitions but these vibrant giant flowers are usually linked to good luck. So if you grow them in your yard they will bring good fortune. And if you pluck one at sunset and wear it too. They are also considered a symbol of truth
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I love a sunflower and and I believe in love power (Tears for Fears, Sowing the seeds of love)
Līgo
Though Ligo is the Latvian celebration of Midsummer, this song involves also the time where the fields get golden and in fact a Grain Mother is mentioned in the song. That is why the second half of the video would be more related to Lammas.
Māra is the highest-ranking goddess (pre-Christian) in Baltic Latvian mythology, also the maker of bread and her festival is held on the 15th of August. She is the goddess of the land, which is called Māras zeme (Māra's land). she is also the patroness of all feminine duties (children, cattle) and economic activities ("God made the table, Māra made the bread"), even money and markets. Mentioned in this song
Pacel savu villainīti, līgo.
Lai redzēja mīļā Māra līgo, līgo,
Kā niedrīti dziedināti, līgo.
Raise your woolen cape, līgo.
So that dear Māra (Goddess Mother Earth) līgo, līgo,
Knows how to heal my reed līgo
Māra is the Mother Grain Goddess in Latvian folklore
Above of all and whatever your beliefs this is a time to celebrate what Nature brings to our plates :)
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Trivia:
As a curiosity Lammas is also Juliet (From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet's) birthday
Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen
Do you have harvest celebrations or festivals in your country? Let me know in the comments.
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Until next! And thanks for your support!
Until next!! Wishes of abundance for you all. ABUNDANCE :*
Remember...
We reap what we sow¨
singer-songwriter & illustrator
http://yidneth.com
With gratitude!
Drink some wine or beer, eat some bread, gather and sing and be grateful
OH! I love this cover of Fields of Gold! Well done, beauty. Such amazing photos, too! Sending you so much love, my sister across the sea.
Thank you so much my sweet dragon princess. I had shared all songs on their own but I wanted to make a little compilation of folklore Legends and meats surrounding this date and so I found fitting to put all this together
Beautiful in gold, green and any colour ;)
Es una fecha especial oara dar gracias por ño que se tiene pero manifestar abundancia. Tssst
Another beautiful and very informative post! I had 2 sunflower volunteers in the New Herb garden this year.
Simply amazing. 🌻
Hey, thank you,how you doing lol? You will not believe it but wondered yesterday shout you cos youtube bought be to a coffee haul you made (and I am trying to cut on coffee)
Sending hugs 🤗
Thriving through the heat of summer here
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