SECTION I - HOLIDAY LORE
Lughnassadh
(Lammas) and Its Lore - StormWing
LAMMAS: The First Harvest - Mike Nichols
LAMMAS - Baboo Kyra Finch
Lammas Recipes - by Luna
Lughnassadh
(Lammas) and Its
Lore
By StormWing
Lughnassadh (pronounced "LOO-nahs-ah") or Lammas, is
one of the Greater Wiccan Sabbats and is usually celebrated on
August 1st or 2nd, although occasionally on July 31st. The Celtic
festival held in honor of the Sun God Lugh (pronounced
"Loo") is traditionally held on August 7th. Some Pagans
celebrate this holiday on the first Full Moon in Leo. Other names
for this Sabbat include the First Harvest Festival, the Sabbat of
First Fruits, August Eve, Lammastide, Harvest Home, Ceresalia
(Ancient Roman in honor of the Grain Goddess Ceres), Feast of
Bread, Sabbat of First Fruits, Festival of Green Corn (Native
American), Feast of Cardenas, Cornucopia (Strega), and Thingtide.
Lughnassadh is named for the Irish Sun God Lugh, although the
most commonly used name for this Sabbat is Lammas, an Anglo-Saxon
word meaning "loaf-mass".
The Lughnassadh Sabbat is a time to celebrate the first of three
harvest celebrations in Witchcraft. It marks the middle of Summer
and represents the start of the harvest cycle and relies on the
early crops of ripening grain. It is therefore greatly associated
with bread as grain is one of the first crops to be harvested.
Wiccans give thanks and honor to all Gods and Goddesses of the
Harvest, as well as those who represent Death and Resurrection.
Symbols to represent the Lammas Sabbat include corn, all grains,
corn dollies, sun wheels, special loaves of bread, wheat,
harvesting (threshing) tools and the Full Moon. Altar decorations
might include corn dollies and/or kirn babies (corn cob dolls) to
symbolize the Mother Goddess of the Harvest. Other appropriate
decorations include Summer flowers and grains. You might also
wish to have a loaf of whole cracked wheat or multigrain bread
upon the altar.
Deities associated with Lughnassadh are all Grain and Agriculture
Deities, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses and Father Gods. Particular
emphasis is placed on Lugh, Demeter, Ceres, the Corn Mother and
John Barleycorn (the personification of malt liquor). Key actions
associated with Lammas are receiving and harvesting, honoring the
Parent Deities, honoring the Sun Gods and Goddesses, as well as
celebration of the First Harvest.
You can create a Solar Wheel or a Corn Man Wheel using a wire
coat hanger, cardboard, and several ears of Indian corn complete
with the husks. Here is how: bend the wire hanger into a circle
keeping the hook to hang it by. Cut out a small cardboard circle
to glue the tips of the ears of corn onto. You may want to create
your Corn Man Wheel as a pentagram using five ears, or a Solar
Wheel using eight ears to represent one ear for each Sabbat.
Attach the ears of Indian corn around the perimeter of the wire
circle. Wrap the husks around and glue where necessary, leave
some of the husks hanging loose to fray out from the edges and
make it more decorative. Where the ears of corn meet in the
center, glue them together. This is where the cardboard circle
comes in to use.
It is customary to consume bread or something from the First
Harvest during the Lughnassadh Ritual. Other actions include the
gathering of first fruits and the study of Astrology. Some Pagans
symbolically throw pieces of bread into a fire during the Lammas
ritual.
Colors appropriate for Lughnassadh are red, orange, gold, and
yellow. Also green, citrine and gray. Candles might be golden
yellow, orange, green, or light brown. Stones to use during
Lammas include yellow diamonds, aventurine, sardonyx, peridot and
citrine. Animals associated with this time are roosters and
calves. Mythical creatures include the phoenix, griffins,
basilisks, centaurs and speaking skulls. Plants associated with
Lammas are corn, rice, wheat, rye and ginseng. Traditional herbs
of the Lammas Sabbat include acacia flowers, aloes, cornstalks,
cyclamen, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, myrtle,
oak leaves, sunflower, and wheat. Incense for the Lughnassadh
Ritual might include aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary, chamomile,
passionflower, frankincense, and sandalwood.
Traditional Pagan Foods for the Lughnassadh Festival include
homemade breads (wheat, oat and especially cornbread), corn,
potatoes, berry pies, barley cakes, nuts, wild berries, apples,
rice, roasted lamb, acorns, crab apples, summer squash, turnips,
oats, all grains and all First Harvest foods. Traditional drinks
are elderberry wine, ale and meadowsweet tea.
As Summer passes, Wiccans remember its warmth and bounty in the
food we eat. Every meal is an act of attunement with Nature, and
we are reminded that nothing in the Universe is constant.
May the Lord and Lady bless you all with a plentiful First
Harvest!
StormWing
LAMMAS: The First
Harvest
By Mike Nichols
Once upon a Lammas Night
When corn rigs are bonny,
Beneath the Moon's unclouded light,
I held awhile to Annie...
Although in the heat of a Mid-western summer it might be
difficult to discern, the festival of Lammas (Aug 1st) marks the
end of summer and the beginning of fall. The days now grow
visibly shorter and by the time we've reached autumn's end (Oct
31st), we will have run the gamut of temperature from the heat of
August to the cold and (sometimes) snow of November. And in the
midst of it, a perfect Mid-western autumn.
The history of Lammas is as convoluted as all the rest of the old
folk holidays. It is of course a cross-quarter day, one of the
four High Holidays or Greater Sabbats of Witchcraft, occurring
1/4 of a year after Beltane. It's true astrological point is 15
degrees Leo, which occurs at 1:18 am CDT, Aug 6th this year
(1988), but tradition has set August 1st as the day Lammas is
typically celebrated. The celebration proper would begin on
sundown of the previous evening, our July 31st, since the Celts
reckon their days from sundown to sundown.
However, British Witches often refer to the astrological date of
Aug 6th as Old Lammas, and folklorists call it Lammas O.S. ('Old
Style'). This date has long been considered a 'power point' of
the Zodiac, and is symbolized by the Lion, one of the 'tetramorph' figures found on the Tarot cards, the World and the
Wheel of Fortune (the other three figures being the Bull, the
Eagle, and the Spirit). Astrologers know these four figures as
the symbols of the four 'fixed' signs of the Zodiac, and these
naturally align with the four Great Sabbats of Witchcraft.
Christians have adopted the same iconography to represent the
four gospel-writers.
'Lammas' was the medieval Christian name for the holiday and it
means 'loaf-mass', for this was the day on which loaves of bread
were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church
altars as offerings. It was a day representative of 'first
fruits' and early harvest.
In Irish Gaelic, the feast was referred to as 'Lugnasadh', a
feast to commemorate the funeral games of the Irish sun-god Lugh.
However, there is some confusion on this point. Although at first
glance, it may seem that we are celebrating the death of the Lugh, the god of light does not really die (mythically) until the
autumnal equinox. And indeed, if we read the Irish myths closer,
we discover that it is not Lugh's death that is being celebrated,
but the funeral games which Lugh hosted to commemorate the death
of his foster- mother, Taillte. That is why the Lugnasadh
celebrations in Ireland are often called the 'Tailltean Games'.
The time went by with careless heed
Between the late and early,
With small persuasion she agreed
To see me through the barley...
One common feature of the Games were the 'Tailltean marriages', a
rather informal marriage that lasted for only 'a year and a day'
or until next Lammas. At that time, the couple could decide to
continue the arrangement if it pleased them, or to stand back to
back and walk away from one another, thus bringing the Tailltean
marriage to a formal close. Such trial marriages (obviously
related to the Wiccan 'Handfasting') were quite common even into
the 1500's, although it was something one 'didn't bother the
parish priest about'. Indeed, such ceremonies were usually
solemnized by a poet, bard, or shanachie (or, it may be guessed,
by a priest or priestess of the Old Religion).
Lammastide was also the traditional time of year for craft
festivals. The medieval guilds would create elaborate displays of
their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright
colors and ribbons, marching in parades, and performing strange,
ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. The
atmosphere must have been quite similar to our modern-day
Renaissance Festivals, such as the one celebrated in near-by
Bonner Springs, Kansas, each fall.
A ceremonial highlight of such festivals was the 'Catherine
wheel'. Although the Roman Church moved St. Catherine's feast day
all around the calender with bewildering frequency, it's most
popular date was Lammas. (They also kept trying to expel this
much-loved saint from the ranks of the blessed because she was
mythical rather than historical, and because her worship gave
rise to the heretical sect known as the Cathari.) At any rate, a
large wagon wheel was taken to the top of a near-by hill, covered
with tar, set aflame, and ceremoniously rolled down the hill.
Some mythologists see in this ritual the remnants of a Pagan rite
symbolizing the end of summer, the flaming disk representing the
sun-god in his decline. And just as the sun king has now reached
the autumn of his years, his rival or dark self has just reached
puberty.
Many commentators have bewailed the fact that traditional
Gardnerian and Alexandrian Books of Shadows say very little about
the holiday of Lammas, stating only that poles should be ridden
and a circle dance performed. This seems strange, for Lammas is a
holiday of rich mythic and cultural associations, providing
endless resources for liturgical celebration.
Corn rigs and barley rigs,
Corn rigs are bonny!
I'll not forget that happy night
Among the rigs with Annie!
[Verse quotations by Robert Burns, as handed down through several
Books of Shadows. This article may be freely distributed provided
that the following conditions are met: (1) No fee is charged for
it's use and distribution and no commercial use is made of it;
(2) The file is not changed or edited in any way without the
author's permission; (3) This notice is not removed.]
LAMMAS
By Baboo Kyra Finch
My birthday is on Lammas, so I’m rather partial to the
holiday. We usually go to a Pagan Camp-out (or three) on weekends
from the middle of July through the middle of August. Kids run
amok, the adults get drunk on mead and jump over large fires, and
I gave up trying to plan or control anything a long time ago.
Drumming, singing, chanting, dancing and story-telling go on all
night long. People wander in and out of the Circle, leave to nap
and return a couple of hours later. I just keep my fingers
crossed and hope no one gets bitten by anything, breaks anything,
or falls into the fire.
August in the Sierra Nevadas is amazing! We get shooting stars,
sudden rains, bears, unexpected hikers and bikers, and young
Ranger Rick. Afterwards, I go home, bathe, and sleep for 12
hours.
Even if you don’t belong to a specific group, the camp-outs
are generally open to anyone willing to pay the fee. I’ve
found them to be relatively inexpensive.
When you are planning to take the kids to a Pagan gathering,
there are several factors you need to consider in picking which
gathering you will attend.
First, is the clothing optional? Most Pagans are comfortable and
open about bodies and their kids are not amazed by a lack of
clothing. However, be prepared for decorations attached to bodies
via piercing. You may want to prepare the kids for all sorts of
interesting attachments. Brace yourself for your three year old
shouting out in the middle of a Circle "Why does that man
have a bell on his peepee?"
You will -- no maybes -- be besieged by insects. Most commercial
insect repellents contain DEET. This stuff has caused seizures,
anaphylactic shock, and death. You might want to consider
alternatives. To repel gnats, mosquitoes and flies (listed in
order of effectiveness), mugwort smudge can’t be beat. I
always prepare huge mugwort smudge sticks for the summer. You
have to be very careful with smudging -- burning down the forest
is not PC! I use a small cauldron, but an enclosed censor would
probably be safer. Other artemesias will work too, but not as
well. Skin-So-Soft, pennyroyal oil, and Roman chamomile are also
good repellents, but not 100% effective, so you will need a First
Aid Medicine Bag:
-googol plex SPF sun block.
-a couple dozen fresh comfrey leaves to make poultices for
bruises, prains and sore muscles.
-lots of fresh yarrow for any open bleeding wound, fevers, and
sores.
-fresh plantain for venomous bites.
-candied ginger for nausea.
-salt for heat exhaustion.
-sugar for shock.
-fresh chamomile for anxiety attacks.
-an athletic cold pack for headaches and sprains.
-lavender scented eye pillow for headaches.
-brandy for a disinfectant and/or a restorative.
-white willow bark for analgesic.
-chocolate, tampons, pads and motherwort for Bloods.
-clean gauze bandages.
-tissues.
-thermometer.
-very sharp knife.
-cuticle and sharp sewing scissors.
-tweezers.
-magnifying glass.
-Q-tips.
-Peroxide.
*dried herbs can serve the purpose of the fresh plants, although
I don’t feel they are as efficient.
All this stuff may seem excessive. You will always need the one
single item you didn’t include. This is a law. Once
you’ve compiled this medicine bag, just keep it stocked and
in the car. You will thank me some day.
Here are some good things to take camping.
1) A garden sprinkler and short hose. This can be a blessing.
Most camp grounds have running water somewhere that comes from a
tap with a screw nozzle. Attach the hose and sprinkle to this to
keep the kids entertained for hours on a hot afternoon. I know
it’s wasting water, but it will get you a much needed break
during the hottest part of the day. You can make amends later by
only bathing the kids every other day.
2) Water sprayers. These should go on every hike, no matter how
short. The water spray will cool everyone down and keep them from
keeling over from the heat. They also provide extra water if you
run low. Take salt tablets too. They can cause kidney problems if
used with insufficient water, so drink, drink, drink.
3) Body Doodlers. These will make you the most popular family in
camp. Everyone will be running around painted from head to toe.
Take a couple of packages to minimize the conflicts over who gets
which color. The green is really hard to get off.
4) Sidewalk Chalk. The kids (and adults) can color every living
thing in sight, and harm none.
5) Volcano makings: large box of baking soda, large bottle of
cheap vinegar, food coloring. Have the kids make a mud mountain.
Make a hole in the center and fill it with baking soda. Add food
coloring to baking soda. Pour vinegar into the hole. This can
provide a couple of hours of muddy amusement.
6) A large bottle of Dawn or Joy dishwashing detergent or
non-tearing children’s shampoo, sugar, water, a package of
pipe cleaners, and a bunch of wire hangers. These make for
terrific bubble blowing. The recipe is: 1 part soap, 4 parts
water, 1 tsp. sugar. Mix ingredients in bucket. Twist pipe
cleaners and hangers into various sizes loops and add kids. Hose
off entire mess when done. Save the left over liquid to wash
every single dish in the camp for the entire weekend.
6.) A couple of industrial size packages of paper (not plastic)
small bowls and a stapler. Decorate these with the Body Doodlers
and the chalk, put a few pebbles in one and staple the other on
top to make a tambourine. These are for use during drum circles,
parades, and all the way home in the car.
I never cook while camping. I just stock up on lots of munchies
like trail mix, granola bars, dried fruit, crackers, nuts and
cookies. Every Pagan gather I’ve been to has a pot luck
feast. Bring something easy like a couple of watermelons or a
wheel of cheese with boxes of crackers. The kids will not
appreciate a hot home cooked meal when they want to run amok
around the camp. If you and hubby want steaks and stuff, fine,
but the kids are usually either totally hyper or asleep. They
have no time to sit down and eat.
The bears know what an ice chest looks like. If you leave it in
the car, keep it in the trunk or throw a blanket over it or you
might find that a bear has "tagged" your car looking
for goodies. If you leave it out of the car, keep your camera and
flash attachment handy!
When you walk, whether it is to visit the out houses or hike,
take a walking stick, staff or cane. Use it to tap the earth
firmly as you walk. This will let snakes and other little beings
know you are coming. They will get out of the way and you will
both be spared a very startling encounter.
You might want to bring flea and tick collars to put on the kids.
This is no joke. It’s a really good way to keep the chiggers
and buggers off of them. Put them around the kids' ankles over
their clothing about a half hour before leaving on a hike, and
take them off immediately upon returning to camp. Store them in
plastic baggies. Check for allergies a couple of weeks BEFORE you
leave home.
Be sure to have a flashlight for each family member, and at least
one set of extra batteries for each flashlight.
Other handy things to bring along are toilet paper, wet wipes,
and paper towels. These are all for when the baby gets into the
honey.
The most important thing of all is to leave the land in better
condition than you found it. This is where our children learn
respect. They learn it by the example we set.
Lammas Recipes
by Luna
These are some of my favorite recipes for celebration of Lammas.
Some are family recipes. Others have been given to me by friends
with permission to share with whomever I choose. In my
Christian-Pagan household a celebration centering around a meal
has proven to be one of the best ways to bridge our differences.
This year Lammas is on a Sunday so our meal will take place
midday. My table will be decorated with gold and yellow candles,
small sheaves of wheat and dried sunflowers (It’s been a wet
cold summer in the northland and thus the sunflowers I would
ordinarily use are not yet ready). May the Lord and Lady bless
your table!
Sunshine Chicken
(My husband’s recipe)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 14.4oz can vegetable broth
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. Orange Marmalade
2 tbs.. corn starch
Mix vegetable broth, lemon juice, marmalade and corn starch and
set aside. Brown the chicken in butter or oil (use enough to
brown) on both sides and the chicken is no longer pink. Remove
chicken from the pan, add the marmalade mixture to the pan, and
over medium heat bring the sauce to a gentle boil or cook until
it thickens. Add the chicken to the thickened sauce and simmer
for about 10 minutes. Serve with rice.
Marigold Custard
(From my friend White Raven)
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup fresh marigold petals
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbs.. sugar
1 to 2-inch piece vanilla bean
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. rose water (available in gourmet food stores)
Heavy whipped cream
Use a spoon or fork to crush the marigold petals in a cup. Mix
together the salt, sugar and spices. In a large sauce pan, scald
milk with the crushed petals and the vanilla bean. Then remove
the vanilla bean and add yolks and dry ingredients. Cook over low
heat. When the mixture coats a spoon, add rose water and cool.
Top with freshly whipped cream and for a really pretty festive
look, garnish with small marigold blossoms or petals.
Grandma Rowdy’s Corn Bread
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar or honey
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup yellow corn meal
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
Blackberry Jam
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir in cornmeal.
Add eggs, milk, and oil. Beat with wooden spoon till just smooth.
(Do not overbeat.) Pour into greased #10 round pan. Bake at 425
degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until deep golden brown and center
is cracked. Serve with Blackberry Jam.
Snickers Salad (Not strictly traditional but fun for the kids to
make)
(from my friend Mary Pat Kelly-Lundin)
4 large tart red apples
4 Snickers candy bars
1 quart frozen whipped topping.
Before the meal, choose 4 large tart red apples, symbolic of our
first perfect fruits of harvest, those which we would give to the
Goddess as offerings. With the children reflect on the turning of
the wheel once again. Tell them that to harvest we must
sacrifice, just as warmth and light must give way to winter (core
the apples, saving the seeds and then cut the apples into cubes)
In this recipe, the candy bars represent the sweetness of life
mixed with the tart taste of regrets for those things that we
planted but which did not bear fruit. Mix the apples, candy bars,
and whipped topping. Show the children the seeds, speak of hope
that is reborn in the spring, then save for a spring planting
ritual.
