Wheel Of The Year Blog: Lammas, Lughnasad, First Harvest

Submitted by Linda Dobbins

LAMMAS ***LUGHNASAD****FIRST HARVEST

The Wheel of the Year turns on August 1 as Festival of Summer Fruits when the earth’s bounty is
overflowing. Lammas is the first of three harvest festivals during August, September and October. This
bountiful season was a matter of life and death to harvest and store the abundance for the coming
months . The wheat harvest is also known as Loaf Mass Day as the bread’s gentle rising symbolizes the
fertility of the thriving fields in Mother Earth. Lughnasad honors the Celtic Sun God and the Native
Americans celebrate the Corn Grandmother, the Romans worshipped the grain goddess, Ceres and in
India, the Cotton harvest is sacred when the Cotton Mother is revered.
The prime energy of summer has passed, the sun begins to wane and sunset light grows lazy and golden
while the earth ripens and grows mellow. The fall harvest festivals honor the loving Mother Earth who
gives in abundance so we can survive the coming seasons of cold and dark. After Lughnasad, the earth
moves closer to the second harvest at the Fall Equinox on Sept. 21.