Lammas Present / Lammas Past

Lammas, also called Lughnasadh, marks the beginning of the harvest season for us Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere. The Summer is waning, the produce in the feilds and gardens are abundant now. Apples are ready and grain is beginning to ripen.

Lammas/Lughnasadh is a day for honoring Lugh, the Celtic craftsman god. Traditionaly, the begining of August is the time for Arts, Crafts & Barter Faires. It was also the time when the people came to town to bring in their harvest, make trades & purchases for the upoming winter; and a time of renegotiating contracts.
This is the time to celebrate the first of the three Pagan harvest holidays, Lammas/Lughnasadh, Mabon/the Autumn Equinox, and Samahin/Halloween.

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One of my favorite ways to decorate my home & altar for Lammas, and really for any Sabbat; is to use natural symbols of the season. In this case- apples, breads, corn, grapes and other late summer produce. I usually keep it pretty simple for this particular holiday- (because it is still summer, and I am not really ready yet to turn my thoughts to Autumn!) Also, many times we are on vacation at this time.

I prepare a simple table, or shelf altar; do some baking, and some sabbat crafting - both for myself & the children. In past years I have baked braided bread, created corn dollies and other weavings, garlic braids, witch bottles, besoms, pomanders, potourris, incenses and various apple crafts, such as apple wreaths and candleholders. Here are a couple of photos of my table last year. We were on vacation in Catalina durng the week of Lammas- so I celebrated there, outdoors. It was very simple, and lovely. I even slept outside, on the deck of the small boat we were on, out under the full moon. I did have a funny thought about those three nights I spent doing that. ~Usually, I lay my crystals out in a bowl of salt water, to soak up the energy from the full moon. Instead... that time I was the crystal soaking in the energy- and instead of a bowl of salt water- I was on a boat in the sea! Pretty cool, huh?

I haven't yet made any plans for this years sabbat- but I will be sure to share with you whatever we end up doing. :) And, as always- I love to see & hear what all of you are doing to celebrate.

Happy Lammas! ~Danae <(:o) aka 'Crafty'