Lughnassad: Also called August Eve, Lughnassad, Lady Day or Loaf Mass, this is the time of Lammas, when the Goddess is ripe and swelling with life. First fruits are weighing down the branches of the trees. We stand now between hope and fear, in the time of waiting. We journey together this night to this place of waiting, a place of change and transformation. Now the Mother becomes the Reaper, the Implacable One who feeds on life that new life may grow. Light diminishes, the days shorten, summer passes as we take our first fruits to the Temple of the Goddess as offerings. We gather to turn the Wheel of the Seasons once again, knowing that to harvest we must sacrifice, that warmth and light must pass into winter. Lammas is the First Harvest Festival and yet the full harvest is uncertain. We must wait now and have faith that the Goddess will provide for the cold months ahead. She is called Habondia, Laksmi, Demeter and Ceres at this time. Often there is a cauldron or Lammas fire where we release our fears. We bring a piece of fruit which symbolizes the most perfect fruit of our harvest. During ritual, this is made into a salad, topped with honey (the sweetness of life) and served at the communion. We recieve the Stars of Hope. Often there is a Corn Bread Goddess which is ritually consumed as well. In Australia, things are different: "Lughnassad we celebrate in late January or early February. In the Church of All Worlds, one of the main rituals of our Pagan Summer Gathering each year, held on the Australia Day long weekend (26 January is Australia Day), is a Lughnassad celebration, where we give thanks for the summer and pray for a good harvest." - Seán Knight. At the time those in the Northern Hemisphere are celebrating Lughnassad, in Austalia, they are celebrating Imbolc: "I start the year at Imbolc (Oimelc); halfway between the Midwinter and the Spring Equinox. I feel this to be the turning point between the dying year and the new life of the new year. This is my own personal idea; others commence the year at Yule, and still others at Ostara. For us in Australia, Imbolc occurs in about the first week of August." - Seán Knight Lammas, or Lughnassad, occurs in late July and early August. It is marks the middle of Summer and the beginning of the harvest. It is the first of three harvest festivals and is usually associated with ripening grain. It heralds the coming of Autumn. The Goddess manifests as Demeter, Ceres, Corn Mother, and other agricultural Goddesses. The God manifests as Lugh, John Barleycorn, and vegetation Gods. Colors are Golden Yellow, Orange, Green, and Light Brown. It is a festival of plenty and prosperity. Have a magical picnic and break bread with friends. Do a meditation in which you visualize yourself completing a project you have already begun. Make a corn dolly charm out of the first grain you harvest or acquire. Bake a sacred loaf bread and give a portion of it to Mother Earth with a prayer of appreciation. Make prayers for a good harvest season. Do prosperity magic. Harvest herbs in a sacred way for use in charms and rituals. Kindle a Lammas fire with sacred wood and dried herbs. If you live in or near a farming region, attend a public harvest festival, such as a corn or apple festival. And, being myself Roman Shintoist, I celebrate instead Neptunalia. While Diana is the focus of our next celebration, it is named for Neptune - Neptunalia. All things relating to the sea, the moon, and horses are celebrated from the Calends to the Ides of August. Sporting and hunting games in oak groves are dedicated to Diana, with any prizes won being offered to her - archery, running, stalking, knife throwing, ball and tossing games, races of all sorts. Proserpina discovers the lure of knowledge which Trivia and Minerva offer, and disappears on her yearly lessons with them, and to dally the winter with her lover God. Ceres doesn’t yet begin to mourn, as she refuses to believe Propserpina would leave her. But she does ripen the grain, and bread is baked in her shape and honor. For the darker side of human nature, Furrina must be supplicated by those who feel a need for vengeance. If they try to extract their vengeance without her blessing, things could go very wrong. There is feasting at the end of the day to celebrate the start of the hunting season, the cycles of the moon and the sea, and the departure of Proserpina. The feasting and prizes are done to distract Ceres from Proserpina’s departure. This is the celebration where we glean the wheat and grind the grain, then make the bread with natural leavenings (wild yeasts!) and bake it in a temporary oven built out back. This is to remind us that bread is truly a gift of tehGods and is not a simple thing. No bread bought from the grocery store is permitted at this feast, nor can we use store bought and ground flours or pre-packaged yeasts. It takes about 5 days to bake bread this way, and each step is highly ritualized. Nodigio