Well, due to the fact I forgot my herbal at home, and I don't have access to the Internet, I had to post my Lammas info from another source (School of the Seasons). I've taken a selection from what Waverly suggests this holiday is about:
"Honoring the Grain God or Goddess Bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you've never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on the mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you've harvested--herbs or onion or corn--to your bread. If you don't feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread. Or gingerbread people. Or popcorn. What's most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions. "
"Corn Dolly Another way to honor the Grain Goddess is to make a corn doll. This is a fun project to do with kids. Take dried-out corn husks and tie them together in the shape of a woman. She's your visual representation of the harvest. As you work on her, think about what you harvested this year. Give your corn dolly a name, perhaps one of the names of the Grain Goddess or one that symbolizes your personal harvest. Dress her in a skirt, apron and bonnet and give her a special place in your house. She is all yours till the spring when you will plant her with the new corn, returning to the Earth that which She has given to you."
"Food for Thought Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in your own words.
Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you can write them on dried corn husks (as suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in Feeding the Spirit) or on a piece of paper and burn them.
Farewells: What is passing from your life? What is over? Say good-bye to it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. You can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.
Harvest: What have you harvested this year? What seeds have your planted that are sprouting? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration in your house or altar which represents the harvest to you. Or you could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. Look for classes in your area which can teach you how to weave wheat into wall pieces, which were made by early grain farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.
Preserves: This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically. As you turn the summer's fruit into jams, jellies and chutneys for winter, think about the fruits that you have gathered this year and how you can hold onto them. How can you keep them sweet in the store of your memory? "
"Honoring the Grain God or Goddess Bake a loaf of bread on Lammas. If you've never made bread before, this is a good time to start. Honor the source of the flour as you work with it: remember it was once a plant growing on the mother Earth. If you have a garden, add something you've harvested--herbs or onion or corn--to your bread. If you don't feel up to making wheat bread, make corn bread. Or gingerbread people. Or popcorn. What's most important is intention. All that is necessary to enter sacred time is an awareness of the meaning of your actions. "
"Corn Dolly Another way to honor the Grain Goddess is to make a corn doll. This is a fun project to do with kids. Take dried-out corn husks and tie them together in the shape of a woman. She's your visual representation of the harvest. As you work on her, think about what you harvested this year. Give your corn dolly a name, perhaps one of the names of the Grain Goddess or one that symbolizes your personal harvest. Dress her in a skirt, apron and bonnet and give her a special place in your house. She is all yours till the spring when you will plant her with the new corn, returning to the Earth that which She has given to you."
"Food for Thought Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in your own words.
Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you can write them on dried corn husks (as suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in Feeding the Spirit) or on a piece of paper and burn them.
Farewells: What is passing from your life? What is over? Say good-bye to it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. You can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.
Harvest: What have you harvested this year? What seeds have your planted that are sprouting? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration in your house or altar which represents the harvest to you. Or you could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. Look for classes in your area which can teach you how to weave wheat into wall pieces, which were made by early grain farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.
Preserves: This is also a good time for making preserves, either literally or symbolically. As you turn the summer's fruit into jams, jellies and chutneys for winter, think about the fruits that you have gathered this year and how you can hold onto them. How can you keep them sweet in the store of your memory? "
I think I might try to at least bake some bread, as I remember I had wanted to do last year (but as usual, was too busy with something-or-other to do it). The only problem this year is that our stove doesn't quite fit comfortably between the wall and the counter in our kitchen, so I'm afraid that it may be too snug to be safely baking things in it (there's like maybe a few mm between each side and the walls). I do like the idea of really reflecting on our accomplishments so far - as we are celebrating an end to all the madness (working 8 hour days, then racing over to the apartment to work on it for four or five hours at a time). Our tenants picked up their keys yesterday and are moving in today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly and we'll be able to finally turn our attentions toward our own house and its myriad of things that need to be done. Anyway, I can certainly be thankful that we stuck with it and got through the crazy month of July (we knew it would be difficult but it seriously tested all our strength, both inner and outer). Now I am looking forward to working on my gardens, cooking real food again, enjoying leisurely walks with Luc and Tigger in the evenings, and actually being able to keep the place clean and tidy as there will be fewer mad dashes out the door (hopefully) in the evenings. :)
Yesterday, it occurred to me that I really am proud of us, as I stood, power drill in hand, looking around at the cozy, clean apartment we were about to offer to our tenants. I never in a million years would have seen us renting apartments out and there is a small sense of pride and accomplishment when you can turn over the keys to a place you love, with the knowledge that the people moving in will surely love it too (maybe not as much as we did, but they'll make it their own and in time will come to love things about it too, I'm sure). For a moment, a week or so ago, I had thought we should sell it. But yesterday I realized that we had put way too much blood, sweat and tears into it to just let it go for nothing. So hopefully we'll hold onto it until we're ready to move again, then sell both places, collect a bit of money for a downpayment on a new place, and then finally settle in somewhere permanent (or at least longer term). :)
Anyway, so here's to a summer of hard work and learning experiences - now we get to sit back and enjoy a bit of the 'harvest' which is enjoying our new life in beautiful Aylmer. :)
S
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