Lammas

(31 July - Northern Hemisphere, 2nd Febuary - Southern Hemisphere)

 Lammas (Lah-Mass) from the Saxon Loaf Mass, also known as Lughnasadh (Loo-Nas-Ah), Celtic feast of Lugh, (the Irish/Celtic God of Fire) and Cornucopia (Stregeria, Italian) marks the beginning of the First Harvest, when the fruits of the Earth are cut and stored for the forthcoming Winter months. This is a time of thanksgiving, a time when we should reap the rewards of what we have sown and look to consolidate upon our position before the coming dark half of the year.

This, the First Harvest Festival, heralds the Sun God beginning to lose his virility, old age is fast approaching and tis the beginning of decline for the God as he weakens along with the days that are also shortening. In some Ancient Traditions this was the time when the Corn King was symbolically sacrificed, to ensure that by his being cut down (as the Corn and produce of the fields was being cut) would feed his peoples by ensuring a good harvest. (The name Lughnasadh actually means the Funeral Feast of Lugh!) Nowadays this may be symbolically done with the breaking of bread during Ritual.

Grain, being important to many religions of the world, is also important to us. It has always been a staple of life and honoured as such. In our rituals when we have cakes and ale, the symbol of grain is always present in one form or another whether it be a loaf, cookies or cake. You may like to bake a loaf in the shape of a man, symbolic of the God, and share the bread in representation of the death of the Corn King, symbolically dying to feed his peoples (sounds very similar to another who died for his followers, as always I'm reminded that All Gods are One God!)

     In Celtic mythology there is a story of a young boy who accidentally drinks hazelnuts from the Magickal cauldron of the Welsh Goddess Cerridwen. He shape-shifts into a hare. She shape-shifts into a greyhound and chases him. He then shape-shifts into a grain of wheat, but Cerridwen then shape-shifts into a black hen. You know what comes next...she eats the grain of wheat and gives birth to a baby boy, who becomes a great bard and seer poet, Taliesin. Cerridwen is the goddess of death, regeneration, grain and poetic inspiration

Lammas Correspondances

First Harvest Festival, Aging of the Deities.

Corn Dollies, Cornucopia, Breads, fruits, grains, the Sun.

Lugh, Bel, Balinus, Any Gods in aged aspect, the Corn King, the Green Man coming towards his downfall. Mother / Crone aspects of the Goddess as she moves towards her menopausal period.

Breads, Grains, Harvest Fruits.

Ash, Camphor, Caraway,  Fern, Geranium, Juniper, Mandrake, Marjoram, Mistletoe, Nutmeg, Thyme

Allspice, Carnation, Rosemary, Vanilla

amethyst, bloodstone

Baking Breads, berry picking, making jam, preparing foodstuffs for the coming winter.