At first glance, to discover Lammas doesn’t seem very exciting compared to some of the other holidays. The celebration at Lammas is possibly the most important. It is a celebration of having had enough food stored to have survived through the winter months, and evidence of good luck that the current crop of food is off to a good start. So you see, Lammas is perhaps the most important of the holidays.
Without the harvest, the people starved.
In this blog post I will cover :
- Themes
- Activities
- Protection spells
- Botanicals
- Decorations
- Crafts
- Menu & recipes
- Correspondences
Themes
Lammas celebrates the years’ life-sustaining 1st harvest of grains and fruits. It starts the evening of July 31st and continues through August 1st when the sun is in 15 degrees of Leo.
Lammas falls halfway between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox. It is the beginning of the end of summer as the days grow shorter, but Fall has not yet begun. Lammas is an in-between time. A time of abundance.
Lammas is predominantly male energy with the focus on culling livestock, weaning of calves and lambs, pausing the hard work of caring for crops to start hunting season, fairs, and competitions.
We continue having our fairs in August. Judging of livestock, active 4H programs, judging of produce, canning, and baked goods are all part of the activity programs. Feasting on fair food, quilting competitions and let us not forget the midway with the games, contests and carnival rides. The fairs bring families together in celebration.
Lammas was a time of clan gatherings, dancing, and storytelling.
At Lammas rents were due, disputes settled, marriages arranged, contracts signed, debts resolved, conflicts ended, and civil court proceedings took place.
The men had parades and raced horses. They participated in competitions of stone-throwing, pole vaulting, and high jumping.
These are not activities likely to take place at your backyard barbecue. However, if you have an opportunity to visit a Scottish Highland Games celebration you can observe some of these sports.
Lammas Gratitude
Gratitude for the abundance of 1st harvest takes place in the form of offerings. Typically a bull would have been slaughtered, but there have been suggestions that at one time, human sacrifices took place to honor the ancestors, nature spirits, and gods.
Offerings take place to appease the fear that the harvest might not be enough and support the hope that there will be plenty.
We give thanks to the crops that in the cycle of life and death, have sacrificed their lives so we may live. Today an offering of wine and bread given with intent is sufficient.
At the harvest of the wheat and corn, the men save the last stalks, believed to contain the spirit of the plant.
These corn husks and wheat sheaves were collected and made into corn and wheat dollys and had a place of honor in the home. ( more about this later ). Honoring the grains help the continuing success and abundance of the harvest.
The women bake bread, all sorts of bread in honor of the grain harvest, and a ritual sharing of the bread takes place at the Lammas feast.
Personal evaluation & offerings
Lammas is a good time for you to take stock of your goals and projects begun earlier in the year. Take a walk in the woods or a park and find a tree that speaks to you. Sit leaning your back against the tree and calm your mind.
Meditate and determine if you are on the right path for abundance or if you need to make adjustments. Listen to what the tree has to offer you.
Give thanks to the tree before you leave and perhaps leave a small offering, a flower, a coin.
While you walk in the woods, keep your eyes open for bird feathers for future magical workings.
If you come across a white feather, it is a message from the other side that a loved one you have lost is thinking of you.
You can make an offering of yourself by volunteering some of your time to work at a food bank, homeless shelter, or the humane society to give thanks for your successes.
Visiting a graveyard and choosing a neglected grave to restore and leave fresh flowers on honors the ancestors and is also a way to give thanks.
Prosperity
Lammas is a time of abundance and, as such, is the perfect time to do prosperity spellwork.
Plants associated with abundance include allspice, basil, rosemary, blackberry, bay, apple, holly, marigold, and cornflowers.
Lammas Protection Magic
It is a good time for protection spells to assure a continuing wealth of crops and success.
You can protect your home by hammering a railroad spike in the ground at each corner of your house. Iron is a protective property.
Garlic dispels negative energy. I don’t suggest wearing it, but having a braided strand of garlic hanging in your kitchen is a good idea.
Hang crystal prisms, like from a chandelier, in your windows. The reflections from the prisms repel negative energy and prevent it from entering your home.
Hang a horseshoe over your front door, placed open end up, to hold in prosperity and repel negative energy.
Pet Protection
Don’t forget to protect your pets. Honor them by having them microchipped.
Make a talisman that they can wear on their collar for protection. Pick an appropriate rune and engrave it on a metal disk or create a wood disk and use a wood-burning tool to inscribe the rune.
Plants that are associated with protection include basil, rosemary, garlic, bay, fennel, marigold, poppy, rose, holly, hazel, and oak.
Activities
Gathering and preserving food and herbs begins in earnest with the Lammas 1st harvest.
Gathering the herbs
Gather your herbs for magical use, as well as for your culinary use.
Use an ice cube tray and fill each section with herbs. Add enough water to cover the herb and freeze. This works well with basil, chives, mint, and parsley. When you have them frozen solid they can be popped out and stored in plastic freezer bags until ready for use.
Herbal Vinegar and Oils
Lammas is also a good time for starting herbal vinegar and oils.
Attractive bottles can be found at stores or ordered online from Amazon.
Fill your container with your herb first, then add the oil or the vinegar to top off and seal. It will take several weeks for the flavors to meld.
One of my favorites to make is dill vinegar. It is fantastic on green beans.
Berry Picking & Jams
Another kitchen project is going on an annual Lammas berry hunting expedition and making jam. If you don’t have a good place to hunt berries check out you-pick places that might be available to you. It is really a lot of fun to go berry picking. If those fail then visit a farmers market.
The strawberries are already done by now, but the blueberries are ready to go and the grapes, blackberries, and raspberries will be coming along.
Homemade jam beats store-bought any day and it is so easy to make. If you have never made jam give it a try. Just follow the directions in the box of pectin.
Those berries are wonderful for pies and cobbler too, your family will thank you!
Brew the Beer
If you like beer, try making your own. Hops are ready now. All you need is one plant and a structure for the vine to grow on.
In a year your vine will be large enough to harvest sufficient hops for beer brewing
First Aid
Plant some comfrey. Easy to grow and tolerates low light conditions. It works wonders to help heal cuts and bruises. Sources say it helps mend broken bones, but I can’t testify on that one. Comfrey ointment at Amazon.
Competitions
At your Lammas feast gathering, try playing some tug of war, foot races, and arm wrestling. You could even have a limbo competition.
Include storytelling as part of your Lammas festivities.
The Fairies
At Lammas, the fairies are still present. If you would like to communicate with them, plant foxglove and marigold to attract them to your garden. Marigold heightens psychic awareness and aids communication with the fairies.
Dog days of summer
The constellation of the dog contains the star, Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star from early July to mid-August and corresponds with the hottest days of summer. The ancients believed Sirius was a second sun that accounted for the additional heat experienced during these dog days of summer.
The Butterflies
When the butterflies arrive, they bring joy. It is time to enjoy yourself and kick back and relax—plant flowers they like and set a shallow saucer of water out for them.
Star Gazing
Maintain a connection with the universe and put life in perspective by stargazing. Lammas is a great time for stargazing as there are many meteor showers from the end of July to the end of August. The height of meteor showers is the Perseid, the third week in August.
Decorations
The candle colors for Lammas are gold and yellow.
Decorate with flower arrangements of sunflowers, marigolds, carnations, and roses.
Arrange fresh vegetables and fruit like summer squash, ears of corn, grapes, peaches cherries, loaves of bread, and sheaves of wheat into a great centerpiece.
Plants associated with Lammas include basil, borage, apples, berries, wheat, barley, daisy, fennel, poppy, and grapes.
Stones associated with Lammas include tiger eye, amber, onyx, and rutilated quartz.
Lammas crafts
Lammas crafts center around the grains from the harvest. Wheat figures, as well as corn husk dolls, are made from the last cutting of the field and are said to hold the spirit of the plant.
Crafted into figures and given a place of honor, it is said to carry the spirit forward for a successful crop the next year. The following year on Lammas the dolly is burned and a new one made.
Instructions for making a corn husk dolly are here and here on video. Each video uses a slightly different technique so you can choose which you like best, both are easy.
Pick up a bag of corn husks at the supermarket. The only other thing you need is a ball of string and a small styrofoam ball if you make that version. The other version does not utilize a styrofoam head.
The same technique can be used with wheat to make a wheat doll. Shafts of wheat can be purchased at craft stores that carry florals.
Kids love to make these. They don’t take a lot of time, and the kids don’t lose interest. Corn husk dolls are a suitable project for children that are seven and older.
Another fun project is to string corn kernels for a Lammas necklace, much the way popcorn and cranberries are strung for decorating the Yule tree. Soak the corn kernels to soften them prior to stringing, then hang to dry.
Lammas Feasting
With all the fresh vegetables, a salad bar is a perfect start accompanied by vegetable soup, home-baked bread, and fresh berries with real whipped cream for dessert.
Decorate your food with borage and nasturtium flowers, which are edible.
Lammas vegetable soup
3 Tab olive oil
3 Tab butter
Three garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
One red pepper, seeded and chopped
A small head cauliflower, separated into florets
Broccoli head, chopped
A bag of baby spinach
One quart chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon Lawry seasoning salt
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 Tab chives, chopped
- Warm butter and olive oil in stock pot.
- Cook garlic over low heat until fragrant.
- Add onion to the pot and cook until translucent.
- Incorporate mushrooms into mix and cook until tender.
- Add the remainder of vegetables, broth, and seasoning.
- Simmer for three hours stirring occasionally.
Artisan Sun bread
1 envelope of active dry yeast
1/3 cup real maple syrup, at room temperature
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups flour
1 Tab. baking powder
3 Tab. brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
- Combine the first three ingredients and set aside
- Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Combine shortening with dry mixture and mix.
- Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir.
- Begin adding the remaining 1 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup at a time.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough for 1 minute.
- Cover and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
- Form into a round mound shape and place it on a cookie sheet. Cover and let rise in a 100-degree oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove bread from the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice a design of a sunburst onto the top of the loaf with a sharp knife.
- Brush the top of the loaf with egg white and bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve with butter and honey.
Skillet Cornbread
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tab. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.
- Add remainder of ingredients and stir until combined.
- Place 1 Tab butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts.
- Pour batter into skillet and spread out evenly.
- Bake 18-20 minutes on the center rack of the oven till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Serve with honey butter.
Lammas White bread loaves
1 envelop active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water
3 TAB. + 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 Tab salt
2 Tab. canola oil
6 1/4 – 6 3/4 bread flour
- In a large bowl, combine yeast, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and warm water. Let sit until bubbles form.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, salt, and 3 cups flour.
- Stir oil into the yeast mixture and then pour into the flour mixture and stir.
- Stir in 1/2 cup flour at a time combining until a soft dough forms.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat both sides of the dough. Cover and let rise in a 100-degree oven until doubled—approximately 2 hours.
- Punch down dough and divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf and place in two greased 9X5 loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a 100-degree oven until double in size, approximately 1 hour. Remove from the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 30 minutes or until browned on top.
- Cool on wire racks.
Thank goodness that we have grocery stores now and don’t have to worry about starving due to a poor harvest like our ancestors. Lammas is largely about gratitude for the fruits of our labor. We have much to be thankful for in our modern world.
Very interesting info!
Appreciated all the recipes too!!