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For myself, this holiday in the Wheel of the Year was take-it-or-leave-it. I didn’t have a strong affinity with the god Lugh, nor did I like the idea of celebrating a holiday that was lifted from the Celts by the early Christian church in England. Add to that growing up in the suburbs and living in urban areas- places far removed from the agricultural lifestyle of the people who celebrated Lughnasadh and Lammas.
As I’ve gotten older and my own personal traditions grew to incorporate kitchen and green witchery, this holiday has grown on me more. That, and I feel like I’m starting my grannie hobbies early, like many of us millennials who are skipping the midlife crisis trend and going straight to grannie hobbies.
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While I am certainly learning more about Lugh and plan to do a deep dive post about him in the future, I really love the idea of coming together, making yummy food, and sharing it with those that we love. Combine that with taking stock of our blessings and feeling gratitude. Food and gratitude–sounds like a perfect match to me!
Food Activities
This brings me to my ideas for my work this holiday. Inspired by Lammas, I decided to bake bread in my Dutch Oven. To push me beyond my comfort zone, I’ve also decided to artistically score my bread. Here’s the recipe I found for the bread, as well as how to score it.
I also ordered silicone baking mats to help me measure out my dough and bake it in my Dutch Oven. Additionally, I bought some bread stencils to help me decorate the bread before scoring it. They’re currently on their way to me, and I will update later with my experience using them. I’m super excited about my new kitchen toys! I know I’ll be making bread for the rest of the season, at least just so I can try stenciling as much as possible. I didn’t order the baking duster, as I have something similar already that I use for my matcha tea, but it definitely makes things a lot easier in baking.
I’m also going to make a lentil and pearl barley salad or soup and maybe a roast beef dish. I try to make a strict vegetarian dish for myself but have meat options for the family. I’m not a vegetarian. However, I am cutting back on my meat consumption for health and ecological reasons.
Since I foresee a lot of bread-making in my future, I am creating a sourdough starter with the flour I am planning to bless for the Lughnasadh feast. My thought was to bless flour at each of the Harvest festivals to carry the energy through the season and make bread from the starter. Here’s the recipe I’m planning to use to create my Sourdough Bread.
Activities for the Kiddos
I think it’s great that the Olympics will still be going on at the same time as Lughnasadh. It is said that the Ancient Celts used to hold games of competition in celebration of the god Lugh. At our house, we’ve been watching the games, which inspired us to hold our own. So in honor of Lugh and the Olympics, we are holding our own Nintendo Sports games and will also include bike races, scavenger hunts, and maybe some water balloon fights just for fun. Haha! Who knows what we’ll come up with.
The Celtic God, Lugh.
Artist: Mickie Mueller Studio
Rites and Rituals
As for my rite and ritual, I plan to do a private ceremony on August 2nd or 3rd rather than the first. Since Lughnasadh and Lammas is a cross-quarter holiday, meaning it marks the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox, there’s no astro-significance to the holiday. It can be celebrated all month long, especially as crops will be ready for harvest from now until October, depending on your region.
For us, Thursday is usually game night, and I thought doing a feast and games with friends would fit really well with the spirit of Lammas. Usually our friends bring something to munch on and we usually make something to share for dinner. It’s not a potluck, but the same spirit is there.
I’m not sure what I’ll do for my ritual this year. I think I’ll do a “Count my blessings” meditation and continue to strengthen any prosperity spells I have started since 5/5. I will also do a card reading for myself and will probably pull a card for the collective and post it to my instagram.
I do invite my family to join me for my rituals and leave it up to them to join. I try not to push my beliefs onto others. That was not my experience growing up, and I always resented the idea that my thoughts or opinions on what I should believe and do didn’t matter. I always try to respect the thoughts and wishes of others.
I’ve enclosed the blessing I’ll say over my offering as well as the blessing I’ll use to bless my flour for Lughnasadh and Lammas.
Harvest blessings, loves! May your blessings continue to blossom and grow!
-Vee
First Harvest Blessing
We give thanks for the blessings of the summer season,
For the gifts that grew from our careful tendings.
Thank you to the water of life,
Quenching the mother’s thirst so all may thrive.
To Father Sun,
Whose golden rays warm the earth,
We thank you.
To Mother Earth,
Who shares her bounty,
We thank you.
For the fruits still growing,
We wait patiently, in perfect trust,
Knowing all will be revealed in time.
Love and gratitude to the plants and fruits unfulfilled,
Symbols of what we must let go,
Their lessons are instilled every season.
The fates gracefully spin the Wheel of Time,
As we continue into the next season’s embrace,
We hold dear the ones who bestow upon us love and joy,
Life’s precious gifts and reminders.
Flour Blessing
Kissed by the sun,
Nourished by the earth,
We thank the hands that tended you.
Bless the hands that harvested you
And prepared you for our use.
May the love that grew you nourish us,
And the energy of sun, earth, and water
Prosper through us.
Blessed is the wheat of Ceres.
We honor and thank you for your bounty.