   Lammas (Anglo-Saxon word meaning "loaf-mass"), or Lughnassad, occurs in late July and early August. It 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. Lammas is the first of the three harvest Sabbats. In Old Irish the word "Lunasa" means August. It honors the Celtic God Lugh (Loo), but it is principally a grain festival. Corn, wheat and barley are ready to be picked by August. Native Americans celebrate early August as a grain festival in honor of the Corn Grandmother and call it the Festival of Green Corn. The ancient Romans also honored their grain goddess, Ceres, at their annual August Ceresalia. Because there is much more to be grown and harvested in the coming months, Lammas is not without fertility imagery. Our coven performs the Great Rite at this Sabbat, in the parched desert. The Goddesss is honored and thanked for bringing forth the first fruits. She is revered and treated with respect and awe shown any first mother. Yet our Goddess is still pregnant with the future harvests of autumn and she is nutured as such. Another version of corn personified as deity is seen in the grain mother and grain maiden images of Ceres, Demeter, and Persephone. Our coven elects a Grain Maiden at Lammas. In ancient Greece these grain goddesses were once focused into the body of a bull (a male symbol that made them a complete fertility symbol) that was burned as a living sacrifice each August Eve. The Minoans of Crete used to hold a similar but more dangerous rite. The would draw the essence of the harvest deities into a bull, place the bull in a small arena, and young girls would take turns attempting to grab it by the horns and vault themselves over its back. This symbolic conquoring of the deities was thought to force them to submit to the peoples will of a successful harvest. In Bardic Wales, a similar practice called Bull Dancing was part of the Lughnasadh (Lammas) rites.
------------------------------------------------------------------- The theme for last year's ritual was of course the harvest. We were reaping dreams and ideas sown at Yule or Imbolc. Our coven uses John Barley Corn, bread blessings, Lammas seeds and the story of Lugh the sun God to set the theme. The procession kicks off right on dusk, percussion instruments in hand, as we noisily followed the trail of candles. As tradition requires our chant is:
"Harvest Mother of the grain, Raven is my assistant for the night, keeping the fire going, incense burning, candles alight and rhythm with chants. She will anoint each individual as they entered the gate:
"Enter this circle with a peaceful heart, I will not go into any great detail as ritual is deeply personal. However, I will recall a few bits and pieces A significant part of the ritual was the severed head of John Barley corn, with a fern hook. "Behold knife of the moon what gives life can also give death, thus the cycle continues," dramatised by our lovely miss Narelle. "NO HARM CAME TO ANY PERSONS DURING THE MAKING OF THIS RITUAL"! The bread will be blessed send around, cast into the fire as our sacrifice. Energy will be raised by quite a great deal of noise from instruments and another chant from the High Priest:
"We cut the wheat we cut the corn,
For Lugh must die to be reborn" Brigid is to the seed bearer. The harvest from last years seeds that had been grown and now harvested were passed on. Jennifer entrusted as the next seed bearer to grow and harvest the seeds for next year. Thus the cycle continues.
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