Lammas Lore
The Wheel turns. The Sun is in the heart of the lion (or at least it's where
Regulus, the heart of the lion, was a couple of thousand years ago!) The lion
calls to mind images of: the King of beasts, lazing in the shade of the trees in
the hot afternoon sun, and the Goddess Sekhmet, whose bloodlust nearly burned
away all life on earth, before it was quenched with beer. The earth bakes under
the late summer sun, battered by the sudden violence of summer storms. We have
the lightning strokes of thunderstorms, we have the sudden downpours out of a
clear sky. Tropical storms and hurricanes strike with the fury of a lioness
enraged, and they form only because of the warmth of the oceans. These storms
feed on the fire of the sun, which has filled the earth and the seas to
overflowing.
But the seeds of darkness have been planted. The cycle of life turns past the
peak of growth, and into the time of release. In astrology, the moon, five
eights past the new moon, is called the "disseminating moon". During this phase,
what has built up in the waxing cycle is now released into the environment. We
see the beginnings of the fruit that will be borne from this cycle. At Lammas,
the sun is five-eights of the way around the Wheel from Yule. Growth has reached
its peak, and the life of the Green God has begun to bleed off into the grain
and into the fruits on the trees. Some fruits and grains are ready for harvest
at this time, and the Maiden Harvest begins.
Beltane was the time of death-in-life. The gates of the underworld were thrown
open, so that new life could emerge through the gates of birth. But the same
gate that admits life into the world passes life out of it. Now is the time of
life-in-death, where the life force of the Green Lord and the Sun are withdrawn
from the world, and distilled into the seed. Life and light are locked away in
the underworld, to be released next spring when the world awakens again.
The Dying God
Now is also the time of sacrifice, of death in service of life. Some of the
first fruits are ready for harvest, but some, too unripe to be eaten, must be
plucked anyway. These are culls, killed so they won't drain the life force from
the fruit we wish to keep. If all the fruit were left on the tree, the life
force would be diluted among them, and none would grow to maturity. Worse,
enough fruit can weigh down a branch until it breaks, destroying the entire
crop, and sometimes killing the tree. The culls are killed, so the rest of the
fruit, and we who depend on the crop for our survival, might live.
We all know that John Barleycorn must die, cut in half and buried, then
beaten with sticks, and finally crushed between stones, nevertheless rises once
again. Bread is the perfect sacrifice for Lammas, or "Loaf Mass", as the
Anglo-Saxons called it. It's more than just the first fruits of the earth -- it
also involves the first fruits of human labor. Grain is processed by human
craft, and combined with the four elements to make the staff of life. In some
traditions, sprouted grain is incorporated into the bread before it's baked; or
sprouts may be eaten alongside. The whole-wheat and alfalfa sandwich is perfect
Lammas sacramental fare!
Yet another food, as old as bread, demands sprouted grain. When grain, and
particularly barley, sprouts, the starch in the grain is converted to sugar.
This process is called "malting", and malted grain can be dried and stored until
it's needed. Malted grain is mixed with water, and wild yeasts, the mixture
comes to life and the resulting beverage is called beer. So important was beer
to the ancients that malted barley loaves were baked especially as a way of
storing barley for use in making the stuff. Only during a famine would anyone
actually try to eat the stuff.
The cycle of planting and harvest is the outer form of the Wheel of the year,
but the inner form is reflected in all human activity. The cycles of life follow
the same pattern, on all levels. All things have beginnings and endings, and all
things have decision points, where we have to decide whether to continue or to
abandon something as wasted effort. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, in
order to continue with more important things.
The Harvest Begins
In all cases, we are governed by the law of returns: as we put out, so we
receive back.
Sometimes, we sacrifice energy or resources as a way of "priming the pump".
Anything worth while is going to require the payment of some cost, and
eventually our job is to decide whether we want to pay that cost. The harvest
season is a time of judgment, and we are called upon to judge things in our
lives. We sift through those things that have grown up during the past
half-year, and we decide which we will keep and which we will allow to return to
the chaos and the darkness. In order to realize the good from what is before us,
we must make choices, we must pass judgment, and we must act on our choices.
In a very real way, that loaf of bread and that bottle of beer symbolize a very
real break from the past. Nature no longer provides freely for our needs. Just
as we must take the dough in hand and knead it, or take the stirring rod to the
vat of beer, we must take all things in hand to shape the final goal, lest the
crop we hope to harvest turn to weeds or dust before our eyes.
Lammas marks the point where we leave the Garden, and earn our own way, "by the
sweat of our brow". It is the time of coming to maturity and taking
responsibility for one's own path. We select the seeds we plant, and from that
we select the fruits we will eventually harvest.
One tradition I'm trying to start in the circles I hold is that on Lammas, all
those who attend could bring a sacrifice. Rather than a can of something for a
food bank, how about toys for a Toy Drive. The toy should preferably be
something hand-made, and it can represent something you intend to work for in
the coming year. Thus, a toy car if you're working for a new car; a doll house
if you're working for a new home; an erector set if you're starting up a
contracting business, and so on.
These toys would be dropped off at the altar, or at another Lammas-time custom,
a wishing well. Take a barrel or a heavy-duty cardboard tube. Cover it with
imitation stone wall paper or tile, or even a decent paint job, and put a roof
over the top. Presto! Instant well! Gifts can be placed in the wishing well, and
may the Gods return what is given many-fold.
The dictionary says that "sacrifice" is from the Latin for "to make sacred". An
object that is sacrificed is given to the Gods, and attains the status of sacred
object. But this is not the whole of it. To apply the word to the thing
sacrificed it to allow oneself to be distracted from the truth. At Lammas, we
hold a wake for the God, but funerals are never for the dead, but for the
living. Likewise, sacrifice is not for the thing sacrificed, but for the one who
does the sacrificing. Sacrifice does make sacred, but it makes sacred the one
who gives.
The Gods & The Goddess are holy because of what they give to us, and to all the
world. We are made holy because of what we give to the Gods, and to each other,
on all levels of existence. This year, and in all future years, let us make a
harvest of holiness for our human & Divine Selves - for Mother Earth & Father
Sky...
Lammas: August 1
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, 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. A ceremonial highlight of such festivals was the 'Catherine wheel'. Although the Roman Church moved St. Catherine's feast day all around the calendar 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.
Corn rigs and barley rigs,
Corn rigs are bonny!
I'll not forget that happy night
Among the rigs with Annie!
To the agrarian societies of medieval Europe, early August signaled the beginning of the harvest season, the time when the first grains were harvested and many fruits and vegetables ripened, ready for picking. A quarter of the annual solar wheel had now turned since the celebration of Beltane, the time of planting crops and vegetable gardens. Those crops and gardens planted at Beltane, now poured forth their bounty proving early August a reason for celebration. As the month of August begins, the rising and setting positions of the Sun move noticeably more southward each day. So too, the mid-day peak elevation of the solar orb begins dropping at a rate evident with the passing days. As the long, high-sun days of summer come to an end, August 1 signals the beginning of solar autumn.
Early August, usually the first, is one of the four annual cross-quarter days -- days at the midway point between the solstice and equinox. (The other cross-quarter days are known to us as Groundhog Day, May Day and Halloween but had more significant titles during pre-industrial times.)
In pagan cultures, the August cross-quarter day was the time to honour the mighty sun god and the gods of the grain by ritualistically sacrificing the first grains to ensure the continuity of life. In the British Isles, the Anglo-Saxon (Lammas), Celtic (Lughnasad), and Irish (Lughnassadh, (pronounced Lunasa) festivals honoured Lugh, god of light, and John Barleycorn, personification of barley and other grains -- and the brews made from them.
There are many names by which this day is known, but the most common to the English-speaking world is Lammas. The name Lammas derives from "loaf mass" an early Anglo-Saxon feast celebrating the corn (i.e. grain) harvest through the ritual killing of the corn king. (Through the ritual re-enactment of the slaying and restoration of John Barleycorn, he became associated with beer and cider drinking.)
With the advent of Christianity in Britain, pagan rituals were officially replaced by a Mass in which the first harvested grains were baked into loaves of bread, taken to church, blessed and then offered as thanksgiving to God. Over the years as British society turned from its agricultural roots, the traditions of Lammas faded away across the kingdom. In 1843 at Morwenstow in Cornwall, England, the Reverend R. S. Hawker decided to revive the Harvest Festival, urging its celebration in schools and churches across the nation.
In many agrarian communities, the last harvested sheaf of grain was treated with special honour, for the farmers believed that with the cutting of the last sheaf, the corn spirit retreated into the soil. There in its underground refuge, the corn spirit slept throughout the Winter until Spring. In the Spring that last sheaf was returned to the fields when new seed was being sown, so that its spirit would awaken both seed and land.
Lugnasad, The Games of Lug, Celtic god of reincarnation. Lug initiated the festival in honor of the earth-mother Tailltiu. This is the beginning of fall and the harvest, when the god is cut down as the corn in the fields, sacrificing himself to life. He is the seed, planted in the body of the goddess to rise again as the new crop. This is the time of reaping, of gathering in the harvest of our labors.
"Bringing in the Sheaves"
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, sowing in the noontide and the
dewy eve:
Now begins the harvest and the time of reaping, we shall come rejoicing bringing
in the sheaves.
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing
bringing in the sheaves.
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing
bringing in the sheaves.
(Repeat chorus)
What is this day?
All: It is the day of Lammas.
What is the meaning of this day?
All: It is the mystery of the corn
What is the mystery of the corn?
All: That which is cut down will rise again.
Who will rise again?
All: We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
All: We will rise again.
Who will rise again?
All: We will rise again.
The year is 1100. The
date is August 1. The monks in the abbey at Gloucester are celebrating the
holy-day of St. Peter in Chains. One of the monks wakes from a strange dream in
which God promises to strike down the wicked King who has abused the Holy Church.
His superior, Abbot Serlo, on hearing of the dreams sends a warning to the King,
William the Red, who has oppressed all of England with taxes and disgusted many with
his licentiousness and blasphemy. Red, as he is called, receives the message the
following day while preparing to indulge in one of his favorite sports, hunting,
in the New Forest. Although there are no longer any people dwelling in the New
Forest — they were all cleared out by Red's father, William the Conqueror —
there are rumors that it's a hotbed of pagan activity. And August 1 is an
important pagan holy-day. The Saxons call it Lammas, the Loaf-Mass. William the
Red laughs at the warning from the monks and goes out hunting. A short time
later, he is dead, struck in the chest by a stray arrow, and his brother, Henry,
who was in the hunting party is riding hot-foot for Winchester and the crown.
Now some people say that William the Red was a Lammas sacrifice, that having
made a wasteland of his kingdom, he was killed by the people (or the Gods) as a
sacrifice to bring new life to the land. And some people say his brother Henry
has him assassinated. And some people say that both versions are true.
This tale of sacrifice and hunting, a dying King and a wasted land, embodies
many of the dominant themes of Lammas, one of the four seasonal quarter-days,
and perhaps the least well-known.
The Celts celebrate this festival from sunset August 1 until sunset August 2 and
call it Lughnasad after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh, the Sun-King,
whose light begins to dwindle after the summer solstice. The Saxon holiday of
Lammas celebrates the harvesting of the grain. The first sheaf of wheat is
ceremonially reaped, threshed, milled and baked into a loaf. The grain dies so
that the people might live. Eating this bread, the bread of the Gods, gives us
life. If all this sounds vaguely Christian, it is. In the sacrament of
Communion, bread is blessed, becomes the body of God and is eaten to nourish the
faithful. This Christian Mystery echoes the pagan Mystery of the Grain God.
Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed and dismembered and
then resurrected from the Underworld by the Goddess-Gods like Tammuz, Osiris and
Adonis. The story of Demeter and Persephone is a story about the cycle of death
and rebirth associated with grain. Demeter, the fertility Goddess, will not
allow anything to grow until she finds her daughter who has been carried off to
the Underworld. The Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated around the Autumn Equinox,
culminated in the revelation of a single ear of corn, a symbol to the initiate
of the cyclical nature of life, for the corn is both seed and fruit, promise and
fulfillment.
You can adapt the themes of Lughnasad and Lammas to create your own ceremony for
honoring the passing of the light and the reaping of the grain.
Honoring the Grain God or Goddess
Bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you've never made bread before, this is a
good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember
it was once a plant growing on the mother Earth. If you have a garden, add
something you've harvested--herbs or onion or corn--to your bread. If you don't
feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread. Or gingerbread people. Or
popcorn. What's most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter
sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions.
Shape the dough in the figure of a man or a woman and give your grain-person a
name. If he's a man, you could call him Lugh, the Sun-King, or John Barleycorn,
or the Pillsbury Dough Boy, or Adonis or Osiris or Tammuz. Pauline Campanelli in
The Wheel of the Year suggests names for female figures: She of the Corn,
She of the Threshing Floor, She of the Seed, She of the Great Loaf (these come
from the Cyclades where they are the names of fertility figures), Freya (the
Anglo-Saxon and Norse fertility Goddess who is, also called the Lady and the
Giver of the Loaf), the Bride (Celtic) and Ziva or Siva (the Grain Goddess of,
the Ukraine, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia).
Feast
Like all holidays, Lammas calls for a feast. When your dough figure is baked and
ready to eat, tear him or her apart with your fingers. You 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 go hungry," "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 you 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 your visual representation of the harvest. As you work
on her, think about what you harvested this year. Give your corn dolly a name,
perhaps one of the names of the Grain Goddess or one that symbolizes your
personal harvest. Dress her in a skirt, apron and bonnet and give her a special
place in your house. She is all yours till the spring when you will plant her
with the new corn, returning to the Earth that which She has given to you.
Food for Thought
Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect
on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others
around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all
possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the
fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods
and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in your own words.
Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year
that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural
objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you 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 your life? What is over? Say good-bye to
it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire,
the lake or the ocean. You 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 you harvested this year? What seeds have your planted
that are sprouting? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a
decoration in your house or altar which represents the harvest to you. Or you
could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. Look for classes in your area
which can teach you 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 you turn the summer's fruit into jams, jellies and
chutneys for winter, think about the fruits that you have gathered this year and
how you can hold onto them. How can you keep them sweet in the store of your
memory?
At various times, August 1st was held as St Catherine’s Day. St Catherine of Alexandria was condemned to death by the Emperor Maximinus. She was tied to a spiked wheel but this broke at her touch and she was beheaded instead. She was a very popular saint, especially after the Crusades. During Lammas festivals, large wheels were constructed, covered with tar, set alight and rolled down a hillside.
August 1 - Saint Peter's Chains
King Herod sought to destroy the early Church by destroying its leaders. He
killed James, the brother of John, and had Peter imprisoned with the intent of
killing him, also. However, the Church prayed to God, unceasingly petitioning
for Peter's release. Their prayers were answered when an Angel came to Peter at
night in the prison where he was chained between two guards. The chains fell off
and the angel led Peter out into the street. Peter gave thanks to God for his
release.
As the LORD delivered the holy Apostle Peter from his chains in response to the intercessory prayers of others, may almighty God instill within us the grace to pray for delivery . . .from our sins, and of ... [His] mercy preserve us from all evil.
In 1940 there was much fear the Hitler would invade England which resulted in producing "Operation Cone of Power" on Lammas Day, August 1. Hundreds of witches from covens throughout southern England gathered skyclad in New Forest to send Hitler and his generals telepathic thoughts to stay out of England. The German armies never invaded the country.
But, thirty-one years later in 1971, on Lammas Day, California witches gathered together to perform a similar ceremony to end the war in Vietnam.
& the time has come again to join with women & men all over the planet,
Tuning into the example set by some very special ancestors,
they were dubbed ”The witches of England” because they were women,
who gathered often in remote places, intent on placing good where there is evil,
love where there is hate, acceptance where there is bigotry, & peace where there is war.
These “witches”, these women of peaceful intent, were the ones attributed with being successful
in keeping Hitler out of England. Inspired by them & in the same way wishing to bring the light
& the freedom back to our family, community, land and ultimately Earth Mother Herself…
Let’s drum up a regime change…In plain American english, it is time for George W. Bush
& all his minions to move on. Their mission and ideals are clearly not in the best interests
of any living creature. So let’s join together in the spirit of “the witches of England”
to release the chains that bind Lady Liberty by uniting our hearts & minds intent on peace,
(sparked by Susan B. Grossman, GypsyDancer)