How to Celebrate Lughnasadh or Lammas
Lughnasadh or Lammas is one of the four major pagan holidays. It's celebrated on August Eve or the night between August 1 + 2. The other major holidays are Beltane, Imbolc (Imbolg) and Samhain.
Wheel of the Year
Welcome to our journey through the Wheel of the Year, a beautiful and cyclical guide to the seasonal festivals celebrated by many Wiccans, Pagans, and various nature-based spiritual paths. This wheel symbolizes the annual cycle of seasonal festivals, marking the natural rhythms of the Earth and the ebb and flow of life.
The Wheel of the Year consists of eight Sabbats, each celebrating a different aspect of the Earth’s journey around the sun. These festivals include four solar events — the solstices and equinoxes — and four seasonal festivals traditionally tied to agricultural cycles.
1. Samhain (October 31st-November 1st): Marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, Samhain is a time of reflection, honoring ancestors, and the thinning veil between worlds.
2. Yule (Winter Solstice, around December 21st): Celebrating the rebirth of the sun, Yule is a festival of light, joy, and the promise of the returning warmth.
3. Imbolc (February 1st): A festival of purification and the first stirrings of spring, Imbolc is a time for setting intentions for the upcoming year.
4. Ostara (Spring Equinox, around March 20th): Marking the balance of day and night, Ostara celebrates new beginnings, fertility, and the vibrant awakening of the earth.
5. Beltane (May 1st): A joyful festival celebrating fertility, fire, and abundance, Beltane is a time of passion and growth.
6. Litha (Summer Solstice, around June 21st): The peak of summer, Litha is a celebration of light, power, and the fullness of life.
7. Lammas or Lughnasadh (August 1st): The first harvest festival, Lammas is a time to give thanks for abundance and to reap what has been sown.
8. Mabon (Autumn Equinox, around September 22nd): A time of balance and reflection, Mabon celebrates the second harvest and the winding down of the year.
Each Sabbat reflects a unique aspect of the Earth’s natural cycle and offers a moment to pause, reflect, and celebrate the ever-changing beauty of nature. As we journey through the Wheel of the Year, we connect with these natural rhythms and honor the legacy of our ancestors who lived by these seasonal cycles.
Down and Dirty Quick History
Lughnasadh is an ancient Celtic festival that was in honor of the God of the sun, harvest and light, Lugh. The reason why the sun went away at night was unknown for a long time, and Gods and Goddess were formed as a way to understand these crazy happenings (at least that's my current theory).
Lammas festival was a festival to celebrate the fall harvest that was about to begin. In pagan traditions, baking bread from scratch and blessing the harvest were common. These were ceremonies that the Church could get behind, thus Lughnasadh is one of the oldest pagan festivals that survives mostly unaltered by the Church.
If you are looking for a more in depth history or more information on Lammas, check out the following books:
A big tradition of Lammas is to bake bread to symbolize the harvest to come.
“There are several legends about the European ‘sacred king’ or ‘divine king’ associated with this holiday. The basic idea is that ‘the king and the land are one.’ The king is the representative of the people and the God, and the land is the Goddess. At Beltane, they join in order to create the fruits of the harvest, and at Lammas, the king/God dies in order to feed the people and start the cycle of rebirth.”
~ Thea Sabin in Wicca for Beginners: Fundamentals of Philosophy & Practice
4 Ways to Celebrate Lughnasadh
Celebrating Lughnasadh/Lammas can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be. Like all pagan holidays, it is what you make of it because our spirituality is so personal to us. Even if you are part of a coven, you may have beliefs that are separate from those of your coven. And that's A-OK, because it makes you a unique witch.
Decorate Your Altar
Decorating your altar for holidays and sabbats always seems like a given, which is why I put it first. To get it outta the way. Things that symbolize fall, (or pumpkin spice season, whichever you prefer to call it) are the ideal items for your altar. Things like:
leaf garlands in fall colors
pumpkins
grains
Green and gold candles to signify the Earth Mother
sun God statues
God and Goddess statues that represent the harvest in your pantheon
Or, you could be a lazy altar keeper like me and maybe just add one small item and call it decorated (oops! I've been caught).
Bake Bread from Scratch
Hope over to Pinterest and find a recipe for some made from scratch bread. Something that doesn't require a breadmaker that you're only going to use once year. Make a ritual of making the bread too. Spend time hand kneading gratitude for what you have and intentions for a fruitful end of the year into the dough. Use some Kitchen Witch magick to make your bread into a spell so that it will affect all who eat it. (Yes, I'm assuming it will come out edible!)
Have a Dinner Party
Invite some friends over and when they ask you what the occasion is, tell them that you want to just thank them for being your friend (sappy, I know, but I hope it's true). Have a fall harvest festival all of your own. Your friends don't have to know that this is your way of wishing them well for the rest of the year, unless you have witchy friends. But even having a bigger than normal family dinner could work. Don't forget to serve the bread that you made too!
The Incognito Way: Get Dressed
Yes, put clothes on. Simple. Choose clothes in tones of fall.. yellow, orange, gold and brown. If people ask why you're dressed for fall and it's still summer out (because it's been a super hot summer), tell them that your trying to convince fall to overpower summer (I like to be goofy). But this can be a simple way for you to celebrate the festival without having to go all out or do anything that would make people think twice if you're not out of the broom closet yet.
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