OPEN EVENT: Lammas/ Lughnasadh Celebration 2010!

As one of our friends, we invite you to join us as we celebrate the beginning of the harvest season! This is the first of two rituals we'll open to our friends this year.


The summer is heating up, fruit is beginning to ripen on the vine, warm summer winds warm our faces and our hearts. It is the time of the First Harvest.

The harvest season is celebrate in three festivals- the grain harvest at Lammas/ Lughnasadh, the harvest of fruit at Mabon, and the meat harvest at Samhain. In ancient times, the corn and wheat would be harvested at Lammastide, the last sheaf sacrificed- rather than being taken to ill with the rest of the corn, it was instead crafted into a corn dolly to keep safe, so that next year’s planting would be successful. This time of year was a turning point for the ancient Celts, as the month of August would bring the Tailtean games. The Tailtean games came about as an homage to Tailte, mother of the Celtic god Lugh. He created these funeral games to celebrate her passing, rather than mourn her death. These games originally lasted 15 days. In Wiccan myth, the God is getting older, as he moves slowly toward the end of his life cycle.

Lughnasadh is the time for take a moment and reflect upon what your hard work has yielded this year. What are the fruits of your labor? Have your plans borne any fruit at all? It’s also a good time to change your path if needed- you can sow new seeds to create a new outcome, if what you’ve planned didn’t come about.

This year, we are opening our Lughnasadh ritual up to our families and friends. We will be focusing on our harvest, and in doing so we’ll be asking everyone to bring a vegetable for a soup we will be making. The gate will open at noon, and ritual will start at 1:20 PM. Prior to ritual, you may craft a corn dolly from husks of corn to be blessed in circle. In circle, we’ll be imbuing our vegetables with energy, and we’ll make offerings to Lugh and Demeter. We’ll have potluck snacks, and the soup made with our charged vegetables will be served as dinner around 5:30 along with bread. We’ll play some games, make new friends, and celebrate the harvest together!
What to bring: a vegetable (list of possible veggies to be posted at a later date), a potluck dish (either something for dinner, or an appetizer/snack), any offering for Lugh or Demeter that you’d like to make.
What to wear: coven sisters will all be in white dresses, feel free to either wear white or black, or dress in the colors of the harvest if possible.
 
For more information contact Ivy at barefootwitch at gmail (dot) com.