Celebrate the First Harvest
Celebrate the First Harvest my friends,
August 2nd is Lammas; the first of three festivals celebrating Mother Earth’s bounty along with September 21st and November 1st. Baking loaves from the first grains and offering them at a communal meal has always been central to these gatherings. Traditionally, the first sheaf would be ceremonially cut at dawn, winnowed, ground and baked into the Harvest Bread that was then shared by the community in gratitude. Most handfastings were celebrated at the Lammas Fairs where country people gathered. The custom was single folks would choose a companion for the next year and when Lammas Fair came again they wed or separated.
The Celts called this time Lughnasadh (pronounced loo-na-sa), Native Americans called it the Green Corn Festival and in Slavic Regions it is called the feast of the Big Glad Woman.
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