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 6 and 7, is known as Solar Lughnasadh and marks the astrological midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox — summer’s end and the arrival of autumn.
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 aimlessly wander about. It’s also a time of alchemy — when starch mysteriously ripens to sugar and green magically transforms to crimson, scarlet and gold.
Lughnasadh is both the name of a Gaelic festival and the anglicized form of the Irish name for the month of August, Lúnasa (or Lughnasa). Both are named after the Irish god Lugh (pronounced Loo), the Shining One who led his people to victory over their oppressors and founded the Tailteann Games (later known as the Tailtin Fair) in honor of his foster-mother, the Goddess Tailtiu (pronouns TAHL-tyoo), for her vital contribution to the expansion of agriculture in Ireland.
As the first of three autumn harvests on the Wheel of the Year, Lughnasadh celebrates the first fruits of the fields — the grain & cereal crops of barley, corn, oats, rye, and wheat.
In later times, Lughnasadh was renamed Lammas, meaning loaf mass, and became synonymous with the 1st of August, and the feast of first fruits. It was celebrated as a time to bless the freshly baked bread and give thanks for the grain harvest.
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, and our relationship to it mirrors our relationship to life itself. The act of putting into one’s mouth what the Earth has grown, remains our most direct and intimate interaction with the land, the humus, and the soul of the soil.
After a long summer of dwindling food stores and minimal plant-based sustenance, the European ancestors celebrated the return of nourishment in the form of protein- and carbohydrate-rich food sources 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 those we love, give thanks for the bounty of life's blessings, and tend to the literal and metaphorical crops yet to come.
Simple Ways to Celebrate Lughnasadh Season and Deepen Your Connection to the Natural World:
- Tend to Your Flower & Vegetable Gardens. Harvest the Fruits of Your Labor!
- Bake & Break Bread with Your Loved Ones
- Feast with Friends & Family
- 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 Journal or Gratitude Jar. What You Appreciate, Appreciates
- Light a Yellow, Orange, or Gold-Colored Candle and Contemplate the Harvest of the Seeds You’ve Sown
- Organize a Family or Community Game Night and Put Your Skills to the Test
- Learn More About The Mother Goddess of the Grain, by One of Her Many Names: Ceres, Cerridwen, Demeter, Inanna, Isis, 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 . . . for we are the ancestors of our great-granddaughters and sons.
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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?
