Blessed Lughnasadh

I wrote quite a lot about Lughnasadh this time last year - do read here. 

So all I will say is have a blessed day and welcome to the harvest season. 

I attended a meeting of pagans last night who all represent different paths - Wiccans, Druids, Shamans etc. - but who all follow the Wheel of the Year. It was, as always, welcoming, inclusive, friendly and informative (and there's good home made cake always). Here's last night's altar:

The bread and the barley and the two significant things to be seen here. This is the time of the grain harvests and people were reliant on it in order to survive the winter. 

The first sheaf would be cut and then ground and baked as bread - hence the other name for the festival - Lammas (from the old English hlaf mas or bread mass - hlaf is also where the word 'loaf' originates).

Then the final sheaf cut is often made into a corn dolly to keep the spirit of the grain safe during the cold and dark months before being ploughed into the ground when seeding in the spring.

I learned last night that another common practice is to leave one small corner of a field un-harvested in order to do the same thing and that several ocal Buckinghamshire farmers do just that.

I will check the local barley fields after the harvesters have done their work.

Oh, and if you want to know where the modern concept of Harvest Festival originated do see here. It all began with an eccentric Cornish vicar who liked to dress up as a mermaid ...