Start of the Harvest Festivals

The season of the harvest was a time of great importance to our ancestors. A good harvest meant less people would die through the cold months ahead. August 1 has long been a time of celebration. It has many names, Lammas, Lughnasadh, etc. But all celebrate this time as the first major harvest of the year. It is a time of waning - the days are growing shorter as an ever present reminder that the force of the sun is weakening.

It is the first of the 3 harvest festivals celebrating the Earth releasing her bounty to us. Lammas is a conntraction of the Anglo-Saxon word for "Load mass"; referring to the honor paid to the first loaf of bread made from the grain of the year's harvest. (1) Since the God was injured at the Summer Solstice, he begins to die in earnest during the Lughnasadh (the Celtic word for the holiday). The God sacrifices Himself to rebirth so that he comes bak in the way of the harvest to feed His people. The God's sacrifice (not to be confused with many Christian beliefs that involve crazy knife-weilding Priests. *giggle*) is sacred, it's a transfer of His energy. When we eat the bread made from teh grain of His sacrifice we are taking a part of Him into ourselves....absorbing His energy.

When we partake of the grain we serve multiple purposes in the Great Cycle of Life (!):
1) We honor the God by eating to survive, our very survival making His sacrifice more sacred,
2) We eat the "seed" of the God in the form of the grain - this will eventually result in magickal pregnancy that will allow the God to be reborn in the Spring.
3) We are taking into ourselves His qualities and responsibilities. We're making a type of oral contract to carry on His work of living in the service of life throughout a harsh Winter.

Therefore, the eating of the Lammas Bread is a sacred act; helping us to reconfirm the sacredness of life, death and rebirth. (1)

Thw Celtics call this High Holy Day Lughnasadh (L:OONA-saad or Loo-NAS-aad). This refers to the games that, according to folklore, the Celtic Sun God Lugh established in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu (2), These were games of speed and strength: such as races, tosses and wrestling. We don't know what the original motivation was, but it can be assumed that as the God's strength began to wane as he died, a last show of strength was called for. Conversely some Celtics believe Lughnasadh celebrates the marriage of Lugh. In ancient Ireland, Lughnasadh was celebrated in Tell-Town (in what is now the County Meath) and in 3 pther locations, Emain acha in Ulster, Carman in Leinster and at Tara.

Some folk tales tell us Lughnasadh was an occasion for the settling of legal and political matters, such as treaties, while the games and feasting were held. However, in a poem preserved in a medieval manuscript, we learn that at Carmen, there were prohibitions: deeds of violence, abductions, the repudiation of a husband or wife, and the levying of debts. The penalites ascribed by this poem for violating those prohibitions were severe - "Whoever transgresses the law of the King Beren prescribed firmly for ever that he should not thrve in his tribe, but should die for his mortal sins."(2)

Hanfasting was an important part of the Lughnasadh celebration. This was an informal Hand-in-Fist - a marriage without a marriage that lasted a year and a day to the next Lughnasadh. If the bride became pregnant within that time then no wedding or more formal handfasting was required. If conception didn't occur than the formal wedding was held at the next Lughnasadh celebration. If the marriage was not to be re-newed or made more permanent the Bride and Groom would stand back to back facing North and South and walk away from each other. Such trial marriages were common in the 1500's. (2)

Some traditions begin celebrations at the Laddas-Tide (July 31). This is the Celebration of Freyr, the brother of the fertility and Moon Goddess Freya. There are many silimarities in Freys's lore as there are in Lugh's. Just like Lugh, Freyr had many skills as talents -- he was said to have possessed a boat that not only could hold up the Gods, but which could also be folded up.

Almost all Pagans who celebrate this first harvest festival create or honor mounds. Corn and grain are often gathered in stooks, or tee-pee shaped bundles. Other crops are sometimes piles into traditional mounds. These can look like the burial mound, and so that is just as they represent - the death of the God and crops at the time of harvest. In the Wiccan Tradition, a grave is a womb, for the Earth is the body of the Goddess. From Her - we and the God - are reborn. Seeds and roots beget their own rebirth, from the Earth, to the Earth. Mounds are also traditional entries to and from the Palaces of the Otherworlds, the land of Youth where the immortal Gods and Fae live. So, we can incorporate them into our rituals or celebrations.

Lammas-Tide is a mystical combination of waning Summer and impending Winter. Though the harvest has stated Summer is still here. But as we see it coming to an end we much hurry to enjoy the time left before the dark time.

This time is not solely for celebrating the male counterpart to the Goddess, though. There are many female deities also honored at this time. Many of the Celtic faith systems believe Lugh (whom the festival is named after) dedicated the fest to his foster-mother, Tailtiu, a Fir Blog queen who was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing a forest so the land could be cultivated for her peoples. As long as the Lughnasadh festivals were held, then Ireland would benefit. More feminine traits of this festival are in regards to child birth. An ancient name - Bron Trogain - refers to the painful labor of a child, as the earth is painfully giving up it's fruits that life may continue.

This festival is a time of great games, dancing and revelry. It is a time of the celebration of life - both the continuation of the life of the people, but also the celebration of the life of the earth itself. What could deserve more celebration that that? There are two more harvest celebrations to come, Mabon to Samhain. Harvest celebrations are celebrated around the world and through almost every ethnic and religious sect. From Africa to the Czech Republic, from England Ireland and Scotland to the Native Americans, all have celebrated the continuation of life so obvious through the first major harvest.

Key Activities:
*Make corn dollies from the husks
*Make a grain wreath
*Roast the first ears of corn on the fire
*Bless marriages, Babies and homes
*Hold games of strength and agility
*Have an outdoor picnic
*Have a scavenger hunt with items from the season
*Have a Celtic Bragfest, or Storytelling contest
*Make braided bread
*Ask yourself and those around you - "What will your harvest be this year?"

References:
(1) Celebrating The Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon; by Ashleen O'Gaea ppg 99 - 103.
(2) The Solitary Druid: by Rev Robert Lee (Skip) Ellison ppg 145 - 149