Wheat, Flower, Grape and Corn — All That Dies Will Be Reborn . . .
Merry Lughnasadh and Blessed Lammas!
The Sun’s alignment with 15° Leo on August 7, is known as Solar Lughnasadh and marks the astrological midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox — summer’s end and autumn’s arrival.
In the cycle of day and night, this time of year is akin to mid-afternoon — when there’s a lull in the activity of the day. It’s a time to rest and play, or wander about aimlessly. It’s also a time of alchemy — when starch mysteriously ripens into sugar, and green magically transforms into crimson, scarlet and gold.
Lughnasadh is both the name of a Gaelic fire festival and the anglicized form of the Gaelic name for the month of August, Lúnasa. Both named for the Irish god Lugh (pronounced Loo) of the Long Arm, the many-skilled, shining one who led his people to victory over their Fomorian oppressors and founded the Tailteann Games (later known as the Tailtin Fair) in honor of his foster-mother, the goddess Tailtiu (pronouned TAHL-tyoo), for sacrificing her life to the expansion of agriculture in Ireland.
As the first of three autumn harvests on the Wheel of the Year, the cross-quarter holiday of Lughnasadh celebrates the harvesting of the first fruits of the fields — the corn or cereal grain crops of barley, oat, rye, and wheat.
In later times, Christianity assimilated the traditions of Lughnasadh and renamed the celebration Lammas, from the Old English hlāfmæsse, meaning loaf mass. The festival became synonymous with the 1st of August and the feast of first fruits. It was observed as a day to take the freshly baked bread to the church to be blessed, and to give thanks for the freshly harvested grain.
Regardless of humanity’s current relationship to gluten, a loaf of bread remains an ancient symbol of sustenance, nourishment, comfort, and community — because a loaf is always meant to be shared.
Food is foundational to our experience of life on Earth, and our relationship to it mirrors our relationship to life itself. . . . The act of putting what has grown from the Earth into our mouths and our bodies, remains one of humanity’s most direct and intimate interactions with the land and the humus — the rich, dark, fertile soul of the soil.
After a long summer of dwindling stores of the previous year’s harvest, the European ancestors celebrated the return of carbohydrate-rich grains with great fanfare. They assembled from far and wide for feasting, trading, matchmaking, and game playing — challenging one another to feats of increasingly difficult demonstrations of strategy, strength and skill.
Today, as in ancient times, we align with the spirit of harvest time as we take stock of what we’ve planted, what’s ready to reap, and what’s still coming to fruition.
It’s a season of abundance, replenishment, and thanksgiving — a season to bake and break bread with kith and kin, give thanks for the bounty of life's blessings, celebrate the fruits of hard work and patience, and tend to the literal and metaphorical crops yet to come.
Intentional Ways to Celebrate Lughnasadh and Deepen Your Connection to the Natural World:
- Tend to Your Flower & Vegetable Gardens — Harvest the Fruits of Your Labor!
- Bake & Break Bread with Loved Ones and/or Enjoy a Full-On Feast with Friends & Family
- Bake Corn Bread or Roast Corn on the Cob
- Make Corn Husk or Wheat Dollies
- Decorate an Altar or Nature Table with Harvest Vibes: Flowers & Herbs, Corn & Corn Dolls, Grains & Grapes, Bread & Besom Brooms, Candles & Cornucopias, Sickles & Sheaves of Golden Wheat
- Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude: Start a Gratitude Jar or Journal — Because What You Appreciate, Appreciates!
- Light a Yellow, Orange, or Gold-Colored Candle and Contemplate the Harvest of the Seeds You’ve Sown
- Craft a Harvest Basket Brimming with Words of Wisdom You’ve Gleaned Throughout Your Life — Draw from it throughout the year whenever You find Yourself in Need of Nourishment
- Organize a Family or Community Game Night and Put Your Skill and Strength to the Test
- Learn More About The Mother Goddess of the Grain, by One of Her Many Names: Ceres, Cerridwen, Demeter, Inanna, Tailtiu
- Listen to Our Lughnasa • Lammas Playlist
We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see, or hear, or sense. — Richard Louv
As we remember and appreciate the ways of the ancestors, we honor them. And by reimagining their customs and traditions — in ways that are meaningful and relevant to us today — we re-enchant the world for our children and our children’s children.
So come weavers of story, art and song. Let us gather together now for the time has come, to weave a new vision for those yet to come. For we are the ancestors of our great-granddaughters and sons. — Olivia Fern, Remember Why You Came
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YOUR TURN
Tell Us: How do you intend to celebrate Lughnasadh season? What are you harvesting & celebrating? What bounty are you grateful for?
