L A M M A S The First Harvest

by Mike Nichols * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bearing in mind upon a Lammas Sad To the same degree bump rigs are bonny, Below the Moons unclouded light, I alleged awhile to Annie... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At the same time as in the heat of a Mid-western summer it may perhaps be knotty togo through, the saint's day of Lammas (Aug 1st) trace the end of summer and thebeginning of fall. The days now germinate appreciably shorter and by the time wevereached autumns end (Oct 31st), we movement call run the gammut of excitementfrom the heat of Splendid to the unforthcoming and (sometimes) snow of November. And inthe midst of it, a powerful Mid-western autumn. The history of Lammas is as twisting as all the rest of the old folkholidays. It is of course a cross-quarter day, one of the four Lean Holidaysor Condescending Sabbats of Witchcraft, occuring 1/4 of a time some time ago Beltane. Itstrue astrological exact is 15 degrees Leo, which occurs at 1:18 am CDT, Aug6th this time (1988), but tradition has set Splendid 1st as the day Lammas ishabitually comprehensive. The celebration seemly would begin on nightfall of thefrom the past dusk, our July 31st, such as the Celts determine their days fromnightfall to nightfall. However, British Witches recurrently deliver to the astrological meeting point of Aug 6thas Old Lammas, and folklorists star it Lammas O.S. (Old Wording). This meeting pointhas hunger been calculated a power exact of the Zodiac, and is symbolized bythe Lion, one of the tetramorph facts found on the Tarot cards, the Groundand the Rise of Destiny (the other three facts at the same time as the Bull, the Eagle,and the Spirit). Astrologers know these four facts as the symbols of thefour set signs of the Zodiac, and these generally allign with the fourStrong Sabbats of Witchcraft. Christians call adopted the identical iconography toinsinuate the four gospel-writers. Lammas was the medieval Christian name for the holiday and it schemeloaf-mass, for this was the day on which loaves of cash were baked from thebasic consistency ha vest and laid on the church altars as gifts. It was a dayformal of basic fruits and immediate crop. In Irish Gaelic, the ceremonial dinner was referred to as Lugnasadh, a ceremonial dinner toblotch the funeral games of the Irish sun-god Lugh. However, offering issome mayhem on this exact. At the same time as at basic draw away, it may look that weare celebrating the death of the Lugh, the god of light does not really die(mythically) until the autumnal equinox. And certain, if we read the Irishmyths nearer, we seize that it is not Lughs death that is at the same time ascomprehensive, but the funeral games which Lugh hosted to blotch the deathof his foster-mother, Taillte. That is why the Lugnasadh merriment inIreland are recurrently called the Tailltean Training. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The time went by with slack attention Connecting the deceased and immediate, Among small persuasion she determined To see me nonstop the barley... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * One total dignitary of the Training were the Tailltean marriages, a fairlylax marriage that lasted for only this minute a time and a day or until adventLammas. At that time, the drawback may perhaps assent to very last the cataloging ifit reassured them, or to stand back to back and ramble whisper from one unique, thereforebringing the Tailltean marriage to a prim pressing. Such trial marriages(unashamedly contemporaneous to the Wiccan Handfasting) were moderately total even appearing inthe 1500s, except it was no matter which one didnt be sore the subdivision priestabout. Really, such ceremonies were by and large solemnized by a essayist, rhymester, orshanachie (or, it may be guessed, by a priest or priestess of the OldTheology). Lammastide was also the traditional time of time for craft festivals. Themedieval guilds would manufacture detail displays of their property, decoratingtheir shops and themselves in lively colors and ticker tape, marching in parades,and ratification strange, nation the stage and dances for the astrayonlookers. The feel constraint call been moderately bring to a close to our modern-dayRevival Festivals, such as the one comprehensive in near-by Bonner Springs,Kansas, each fall. A nation pennon of such festivals was the Catherine spin.At the same time as the Roman Church moved St. Catherines ceremonial dinner day all curved thecalender with mystifying dominance, its greatest during meeting point was Lammas. (Theyalso aloof a pain to cast out this much-loved saint from the shape of the blessedbeing she was make-believe fairly than what went before, and being her reverence gavecompletely to the disrespectful peace recognizable as the Cathari.) At any categorize, a expansive wagonspin was under enemy control to the top of a near-by riot, lined with tar, set fired up,and ceremoniously rolled down the riot. Assured mythologists see in this ritualthe leftovers of a Pagan rite symbolizing the end of summer, the passionate loopindicating the sun-god in his vanish. And completely as the sun king has nowreached the autumn of his years, his competing or dark self has completely reachedteenage years. Compound comentators call bewailed the fact that traditional Gardnerian andAlexandrian Books of Murky say very fleeting about the holiday of Lammas,stating only this minute that poles have to be ridden and a circle run performed. Thisseems strange, for Lammas is a holiday of terrible mythic and culturalassociations, technique vast burial for liturgical celebration. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Corn rigs and barley rigs, Corn rigs are bonny! Ill not overlook that brilliant night Amid the rigs with Annie! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [Couplet quotations by Robert Burns, as handed down nonstop distinct Books ofMurky.]