Frederick Covenant Of UU Pagans

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Lughnasadh / Lammas / First Harvest:

Join the CUUPs Open Circle Thursday July 31st in the Chapel at 7:30 to celebrate Lughnasadh / Lammas / First Harvest. The service will be led by Charles Haney and Lora Powell.

Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. We should reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of our journals and then be ready to share them with others around the fire on the Thursday, July 31st. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so we will try to have our feast around a fire. We shall also work on our regrets. Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. We will project our regrets onto objects like pine cones or paper and throw them into the fire, releasing them and burning them. Finally we shall work on our farewells for the summer. What is passing from our life? What is over? We should say good-bye to it. As with regrets, we will find visual symbols and throw them into the fire. There will also be a shared feast of bread and jam with mead or grape juice to celebrate the First Harvest. Please join us and bring your drums and or noise makers as we share bread, homemade jam, mead or grape juice if you wish / can and we will drum and dream on the summer’s eve.




Lughnasadh, Lammas, 1st Harvest, Bread Harvest, Festival of First Fruits.
By Charles Haney

Lughnasadh was one of the four main festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltain on the first of May, Lughnasadh in August and Samhain in November. The early Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the actual calendar date in ancient times may have varied. Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings - trial marriages that would generally last a year and a day, with the option of ending the contract before the New Year, or later formalizing it as a more permanent marriage.

In Celtic mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. The first location of the Áenach Tailteann was at the site of modern Teltown, located between Navan and Kells. Historically, the Áenach Tailteann gathering was a time for contests of strength and skill, and a favored time for contracting marriages and winter lodgings. A peace was declared at the festival, and religious celebrations were also held. A similar Lughnasadh festival was held at Carmun (whose exact location is under dispute). Carmun is also believed to have been a goddess of the Celts, perhaps one with a similar story as Tailtiu.

A festival corresponding to Lughnasadh may have been observed by the Gauls at least up to the first century; on the Coligny calendar, the eighth day of the first half of the month Edrinios, is marked with the inscription TIOCOBREXTIO that identifies other major feasts. The same date was later adopted for the meeting of all the representatives of Gaul at the Condate Altar in Gallo-Roman times. During the reign of Augustus Caesar the Romans instituted a celebration on August 1 to the genius of the emperor in Lyon, a place believed to have also been named for the Celtic god Lugh.

Celtic Reconstructionism
Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy, and base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans tend to celebrate Lughnasadh at the time of first fruits, or on the full moon that falls closest to this time. In the Northeastern United States, this is often the time of the blueberry harvest, while in the Pacific Northwest the blackberries are often the festival fruit.

In Celtic Reconstructionism (CR), Lá Lúnasa is seen as a time to give thanks to the spirits and deities for the beginning of the harvest season, and to propitiate them with offerings and prayers to not harm the still-ripening crops. The god Lugh is honored by many at this time, as he is a deity of storms and lightning, especially the storms of late summer. However, gentle rain on the day of the festival is seen as his presence and his bestowing of blessings. Many CRs also honor the goddess Tailitu on this day, and may seek to keep the Cailleachan ("Storm Hags") from damaging the crops, much in the way appeals are made to Lugh.


Wicca
In Wicca and other forms of Neopaganism, Lughnasadh (or Lammas) is one of the eight sabbats or solar festivals in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. It is the first of the three autumn harvest festivals, the other two being the autumn equinox or Mabon and Samhain. One telling of the story commemorates the sacrifice and death of the Wiccan Corn God; in its cycle of death, nurturing the people, and rebirth, the corn is considered an aspect of their Sun God. Some Neopagans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the god in bread, and then symbolically sacrificing and eating it. These celebrations are not based on Celtic culture, despite the Celtic name used for the sabbat; however this name seems to have been a late adoption, since in early versions of Wiccan literature the festival is merely referred to as "August Eve".

Lammas
Many Wiccans and other Neopagans also use the name Lammas for the sabbat, taken from the Anglo-Saxon and Christian holiday which occurs at about the same time. As the name (from the Anglo-Saxon hlafmæsse "loaf-mass", "loaves festival") implies, it is an agrarian-based festival and feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolizes the first fruits of the harvest. Wiccan and other eclectic Neopagan rituals may incorporate elements from either festival.

In English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day (loaf-mass day), the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly, it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first, or the sixth, of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (d. 604) specifies the sixth.[citation needed]

In medieval times the feast was known as the "Gule of August", but the meaning of "gule" is unknown. Ronald Hutton suggests that it may be an Anglicisation of gwyl aust, the Welsh name for August 1 meaning "feast of August", but this is not certain. If so, this points to a pre-Christian origin for Lammas among the Anglo-Saxons and a link to the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh. 'Gule' could also come from 'Geohhol' (Old English form of 'jule') and thus Lammas Day was the 'Jule of August'.[citation needed]

There are several historical references to it being known as Lambess eve, such as 'Publications of the Scottish Historical Society' 1964 and this alternate name is the origin of the Lambess surname, just as Hallowmass and Christmas were also adopted as familial titles.

Primary meanings: This festival has two aspects. First, it is one of the Celtic fire festivals, honoring the Celtic culture-bringer Lugh (Lleu to the Welsh, Lugus to the Gauls). In Ireland, races and games were held in his name and that of his mother, Tailtiu (these may have been funeral games). Second, the holiday is the Saxon Feast of Bread, at which the first of the grain harvest is consumed in ritual loaves. These aspects are not too dissimilar, as the shamanic death and transformation of Lleu can be compared to that of the Barley God, known from the folksong "John Barleycorn."

Lammas celebrates the first of three harvest celebrations in the Craft. It marks the beginning of autumn, the start of the harvest cycle, and relies on the early crops of ripening grain and any fruits and vegetables ready to be harvested. It is associated with bread because grain is one of the first crops harvested. Those in the Craft often give thanks and honor now to gods and goddesses of the harvest and of death and resurrection.

Symbols: All grains, especially corn and wheat, corn dollies, sun wheels, bread, harvesting and threshing tools and the harvest full moon. Altar decorations might include corn dollies or kirn babies (corncob dolls) to symbolize the Mother Goddess of the Harvest. Other appropriate decorations include summer flowers and grains. We might also wish to have a loaf of whole cracked wheat or multigrain bread upon the altar, baked in the shape of the sun.

Colors: Red, orange, gold, yellow, citrine, green, grey and light brown.

Gemstones: Yellow diamonds, aventurine, sardonyx, peridot and citrine.

Herbs: Acacia flowers, aloes, chamomile, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, myrtle, oak leaves, passionflower, rose, rose hips, rosemary, sandalwood, sunflowers and wheat.

Gods and goddesses: Lugh, Thor, John Barleycorn (the personification of malt liquor), Demeter, Danu, Ceres, sun gods, corn mothers, all grain and agriculture deities, mother goddesses and father gods.

Customs and myths: Spellwork for prosperity, abundance and good fortune are especially appropriate now, as well as spells for connectedness, career, health and financial gain. Sacrifice is often associated with this holiday. Visits to fields, orchards, lakes and wells are also traditional. It is considered taboo not to share our food with others now.

Activities appropriate for this time of the year are baking bread, wheat weaving and making corn dollies or other god and goddess symbols. We may want to string Indian corn on black thread to make a necklace, or bake cornbread sticks shaped like little ears of corn for our Sabbat cakes. The corn dolly may be used as a fertility amulet and an altar piece.


Feast
Like all holidays, Lammas calls for a feast. When our dough figure is baked and ready to eat, we tear him or her apart with our fingers. We might want to start the feast with the Lord's Prayer, emphasizing the words "Give us this day our daily bread." The next part of the ceremony is best done with others. Feed each other hunks of bread (or gingerbread people or popcorn), putting the food in the other person's mouth with words like "May you never hunger," "May you always be nourished," "Eat of the bread of life" or "May you live forever." Offer each other drinks of water or wine with similar words. As if we were at a wake, make toasts to the passing summer, recalling the best moments of the year so far.

Corn Dolly
Another way to honor the Grain Goddess is to make a corn doll. This is a fun project to do with kids. Take dried-out corn husks and tie them together in the shape of a woman. She's our visual representation of the harvest. As we work on her, think about what we harvested this year. Give our corn dolly a name, perhaps one of the names of the Grain Goddess or one that symbolizes our personal harvest. Dress her in a skirt, apron and bonnet and give her a special place in our house. She is all ours till the spring when we will plant her with the new corn, returning to the Earth that which She has given to us.


Food for Thought
Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of our journals or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have our feast around a bonfire. While we are sitting around the fire, we might want to tell stories. We could look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in our own words.

Regrets: Think of the things we meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. We can project our regrets onto natural objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them or we can write them on dried corn husks (as suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in “Feeding the Spirit”) or on a piece of paper and burn them.

Farewells: What is passing from our life? What is over? We should say good-bye to it. As with regrets, we can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. We can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.

Harvest: What have we harvested this year? What seeds have we planted that are sprouting? We can find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration in our house or altar which represents the harvest to us or we could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. We can look for classes in our area which can teach us how to weave wheat into wall pieces, which were made by early grain farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.

Preserves: This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically. As we turn the summer's fruit into jams, jellies and chutneys for winter, we can think about the fruits that we have gathered this year and how we can hold onto them. How can we keep them sweet in the store of our memory?