August 1st marks the pagan holidays of Lughnasadh and Lammas. Lughnasadh is the traditional pagan celebration on this day, which honors the god Lugh. Lugh is the Celtic god associated with the harvest.
Early Christians later took over this day to celebrate Lammas, or Loaf’s Mass, a holiday to celebrate the harvest as well as the first communion of breaking bread. Today, these holidays seem to be interchangeable among Neopagans as both celebrate harvests.
At this time in the season, early summer’s harvests are ripe and ready for picking. It was a time to start processing these foods for the long winter months ahead. People would have festivals and rituals thanking the gods for this prosperity and abundance.
Being the first of the three harvests, Lughnasadh/Lammas was a time of crafting and hard work. Reaping the rewards of summer, people would turn their bounty into items to sustain them for the winter.
Looking to celebrate your own Lughnasadh/Lammas? Here are a few ways you can connect to this energy.
Bake Bread
Baking bread is a common ritual during this time. Since grain was seen as a symbol of wealth and prosperity (as an abundance of this would mean survival for the long winter), baking bread is a magickal ritual you can do to call forth more abundance and prosperity into your life.
Make Beeswax Candles
Bees are symbolically connected to the sun and its energy. During Lughnasadh/Lammas, people would collect the honey that bees would make and use it in many spells and rituals as a symbol of prosperity and success. It was also used to add more joy and sweetness into one’s life. People would make beeswax candles to provide a source of light for the darker days ahead. Beeswax candles connect to the sun’s energy, and doing a bit of candle magick with them is a great way to call in more of that prosperity and wealth.
Can and Pickle your Vegetables
With this being the first harvest, it’s time to transform your bounty into food for winter. Get crafty with canning and pickling. Make jam, applesauce, tomato soup, pickles and other yummy preserved goodies. If you’re a kitchen witch, this is a great opportunity for additional spellwork.
Pick Sunflowers
During the month of August, sunflowers are in full bloom. Their happy yellow color (and name) connect to the solar energies of joy, positivity, and abundance. Pick some for yourself and place in your home to bring these energies in.
Have a Feast
Since harvest time was a time of success and reward, people would enjoy these gifts. A feast from their yield was custom. Have your own feast and celebration with your vegetables from your garden, beer (since it is made from grain), apple pie, and other baked goods.
Decorate your Altar
With this time being associated with success and wealth, add items to your alter that connect to those energies. Coins, wheat bundles, oats all are associated with money. With this also being a time of crafting and skill work, add items that you are talented in. Maybe you’re an artist. Add a paint brush. Writer? Place your journal or favorite pen. Colors to bring in are golds, yellows, and greens. Decorate with the plants sunflower, wheat, oat, barley, corn, goldenrod, and meadowsweet. Add the crystals citrine, carnelian, tigers eye and amber.
Have a happy Lughnasadh/Lammas. Be sure to follow for more witchy tips and tricks.
For more on Lammas and ways to celebrate, check out my Summer ebook for rituals, recipes, and more.
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