Lughnasa : August 2, July 31st/Aug 1st Frey Fest/Lughnasa/Lugnasad/Lammas
This is an Irish Gaelic name for the feast which commemorates the funeral games of Lugh, Celtic god of light, and son of the Sun.
In the mythological story of the Wheel of the Year, the Sun God transfers his power into the grain, and is sacrificed when the grain is harvested.
So we have a dying, self-sacrificing and resurrecting god of the harvest, who dies for his people so that they may live. Sound familiar?
The power of the sun goes into the grain as it ripens. It is then harvested and made into the first new bread of the season.
This is the Saxon hlaef-masse or loaf-mass, now lammas. Seed grain is also saved for planting for next year's crop, so the sun god may be seen to rise again in Spring with the new green shoots, as the sun also rises in the sky.
There are many traditions and customs all over the country that are still carried on at harvest-time today.
Lammas is a festival celebrating the first fruits of harvest, the fruits of our labours, and seeing the desires that we had at the start of the year unfold so rituals will be centred around this.
It's a time for bread-making and corn-dollies. Goddesses celebrated around this time include Demeter and Ceres. Trees associated with lammas are Hazel and Gorse and herbs are Sage and Meadowsweet. Colours associated with lammas are golds, yellows and orange for the God and red for the Goddess as mother.Lammas is traditionally first harvest. Look around you and you will see various trees namely Rowan yielding bright red berries and brambles showing ripening fruits along with apple and pear trees. In this day and age when food is mass produced and imported so we get fruits and veg and corn no matter what time of year it is, it is easy to lose touch with the natural cycle of things.
[Source:thewhitegoddess.co.uk]
In Short-
Lughnasad/Lammas(N.H ) July 31st/Aug 1st (S.H) Feb 1st/2nd
Grand Sabbat
First Harvest. Celebration of the grain
Mother.The golden corn is cut and the
Lord of grain gives himself in sacrifice
and is transformed into life giving bread.
The God is dying but lives on in the
Goddess as her child.
Symbols of Lughnasa
Corn, All Grains, Bread, Full Moon, Wheat
Herbs of Lughnasa
Acacia flowers, aloes, calendula, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, myrtle, oak leaves, sunflower, vervain
Incense of Lughnasa
Aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary, chamomile, passionflower, frankincense and sandalwood
Colours of Lughnasa
Red, Gold, Yellow, Green, Orange, Citrine
Stones of Lughnasa
Yellow Diamond, Peridot, Citrine
Altar candles for Lughnasa
Orange, Green, Red, Corn Yellow, Brown and Tan
Spells
Spells for Prosperity, Abundance, Honour & Thanks, Good fortune, Health and Financial Gain
Oils
Eucalyptus, Corn, Safflower
Gods and Goddesses
Gods Adonis, Hercules, Tammuz, Lugh, Odin, Loki, Baal.
Goddesses Anat, Blodeuwedd, Ceres, Cerridwen, Demeter, Isis, Sif.