Good Lammastide!

On August 1st, English villagers celebrated the feast of Lammas, in honor of the wheat harvest. The term “Lammas,” in fact, derives from the Old English phrase, “hlaf-maesse,” or “loaf-mass,” when a loaf baked from the newly harvested wheat was blessed at the local church. Lammas was also the occasion of country fairs, often held with the intent of hiring new laborers for the continuing harvest season. 

Of course this celebration, like many others appropriated by Christianity, is much older. Lammas, known as Lughnasadh in the Wiccan/Pagan cycle — the Wheel of the Year — honors the Pagan god, Lugh, on the occasion of his marriage. It is the first of three sequential harvest festivals in this tradition: Mabon and Samhain are the others. 

We shouldn’t fail to notice that Lammas is a “cross-quarter day,” lying equidistant between the summer solstice, known as Litha, and the autumnal equinox, known as Mahon. By the time Lammas rolls around, we are descending into the dark, the season of shorter days and longer nights. Already, the days have become perceptibly shorter. 

This time of year works a change in me. As the heat begins to wane, I have more energy, and begin to look forward to autumn. Like a squirrel stockpiling nuts, I have been cleaning out cupboards, discarding and recycling, making space in case I have to stock up again for the continuing pandemic. The pandemic hangs over all seasons this year, all holidays, all festivities. 

And yet a change from my typical summer torpor is very welcome. Good Lammastide to you!