Sunday Respite – Celebrating Lammas

Since the beginning of time we has been dependent on the earth to sustain ourselves with her bounty. For centuries, in gratitude, honor has been bestowed throughout the year with festivals in thanks to Mother earth’s goodness. Various religions and traditions have named it differently yet the intention was the same. The Wheel keeps turning. The cycle of life and seasons repeat. A reflection of our own life cycle.

 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.” “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.”

Lammas or Lughnasadh   Celebrated the beginning of August.

The word Lammas evolved from Old English “hlāfmæsse” (hlāfmeaning “loaf” and mæssse meaning “mass”). It originated from the fact that on August first of each year, the early English church celebrated the harvesting of the first ripe grain by consecrating loaves made from it – hence, “loaf mass.”

Shakespeareans will be sure to add that the eve of Lammas is Juliet’s birthday, as her nurse tells us in Romeo and Juliet, “Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen.” In addition, the phrase “latter Lammas” was used humorously to refer to a day that will never come, as in “he will pay at latter Lammas.”

Merriam-Webster

Lughnasadh

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.

On mainland Europe and in Ireland many people continue to celebrate the holiday with bonfires and dancing. On this day it was/is customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop.

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night will never cease.’
(Gen 8:22)

From Faith and Worship

Music: Deora Ar Mo Chroi by Enya

Prayer for Lughnasadh

Now is the time of the First Harvest,
when the bounties of nature give of themselves so that we may survive.

O God of the ripening fields,

Lord of the Grain,
grant me the understanding of sacrifice as You prepare to deliver Yourself under the sickle of the Goddess and journey to the lands of eternal summer.

O Goddess of the Dark Moon,
teach me the secrets of rebirth as the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold.

Scott Cunningham Author.

Wishing you a bountiful Lammas.