I can show where the "ancient Celtic" people observed the "firstfruits"
of the "wheat harvest" in the "summertime" around the last day of "July"
or the first day of August which is in harmony with counting the 50 days "after" the seventh Sabbath complete instead
of 50 days from the wave sheaf or after the first Sabbath.
The following was gleaned from
web sites under "Lammus" which means "loaf mass" although paganism has crept in as it has in all the feast
of YHWH, we can still get an idea of how things were done if we know the scriptures.
The "grain is ripe for harvest". Apple trees and gardens bear
forth the fruits of "summer." This is the time of "Lughnasadh," the ancient Celtic festival held in celebration
of the "first fruits" of the harvest.
The modern Irish spelling, Lúnasa, is the name
of the month of "August' in Irish Gaelic. Lughnasadh, an older spelling, is often used to designate
the name of the seasonal festival that surrounds the "first" day of the month of August. In Scots
Gaelic the day is known as Lunasda or Lunasdal. This is the time that marks a rest from labor, a time to take stock of what
the "summer sun" has yielded. It is a time to celebrate and enjoy the outcome of our daily toil.
At this gathering were held games and contests of skill as well as a great feast made up of the first fruits of the
In the Celtic nations of Europe traditions
surrounding Lughnasadh still continue from pre-Christian times. Most often, celebration of the holiday occurs
on the first Sunday of August or the Sunday just before the first day of August. In modern Ireland the tradition
still continues that on the last Sunday of "July" families ascend into the hills of the countryside
to pick bilberries. The bilberries are symbolic of the bounty of Mother Earth at this time of year and of the fruits harvested
in that ancient time when Tailltiu made a place for the grain that would feed the generations to come after her. With the
coming of Christianity to the Celtic lands, the old festival of Lughnasadh took on Christian symbolism. Loaves of
bread were baked from the first of the harvested grain and placed on the church altar on the first Sunday of August.
The Christianized name for the feast of Lughnasadh is Lammas which means "loaf mass". And, of course,
there are the fairs which are still held all across Europe and America.
(Old Irish pronounced IPA: [lu¢°nəsə]) is a Gaelic holiday celebrated on the first of August, or at the
time of the ripening of the local berry crop, or on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the summer
solstice and autumnal equinox.
Lughnasadh was one of the four main
festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltane on the first of May, Lughnasadh
in August and Samhain in October. The early Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles,
so the actual calendar date was variable. Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of "first
fruits," and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with
distant family and friends. Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings - trial marriages that would generally
last a year and a day, with the option of ending the contract before the new year, or later formalizing it as a more permanent
One historical example of handfastings as trial marriages is that of
"Telltown marriages" - named for the year and a day trial marriages contracted at the yearly festival held in Telltown,
Ireland. The festival took place every year at Lughnasadh (August 1), and the trial marriage would last until the next Lughnasadh
festival. At that time, they were free to leave the union if they desired.
August 1 is
the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining.
Lughnasadh (pronounced lune-ah-sah) was "a summer festival of the ancient
Celts," celebrated around August 1. My understanding is that it is known that it was celebrated at either the
full moon or the new moon closest to the midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. Since the midpoint
is on August 6th, that means that this year, Lughnasadh falls on either July 25 (the new moon).
Colors: Gray, green, gold, yellow
Symbols: All grains, breads, threshing tools, athame
1/4 of a year after Beltaine. True astrological point is 15 degrees Leo, but tradition has set August 1st as the day it is
typically celebrated. Since the Ancients Celts passed their days from sundown to sundown, the celebration would usually begin
the night before on July 31st.
This "sabbat" is also known as the celebration
of bread. As bread was one of the main staples of our ancestors, the ripening of the grain was the cause for great
celebration. The reaping, threshing and preparation of these breads spawned great ritual and ceremony to ensure bounty for
the following year.
This time of the year finds us with fields to harvest, the first of
a bountiful crop that will hold us through the winter months. Even though the hottest days of summer are
upon us, we have but to observe to see that fall is just around the corner. Shadows are growing longer as the days slowly
become shorter. Squirrels are busily gathering food for the coming winter. It is a time to begin canning produce from the
garden, a time to save and preserve.
Some ideas for celebration include:
Sacrifice bad habits and unwanted things from your life by throwing symbols of them into the sabbat fire.
a loaf of bread in the shape of a man and sacrifice him in your ritual. Make him a part of your feast but save a piece to
offer the gods.
• Take time to actually harvest fruits from your garden with your family. If you don’t have
a garden, visit one of the pick-your-own farms in your area.
• Include bilberries or blueberries in your feast;
these were a traditional fruit, whose abundance was seen as an indicator of the harvest to come.
• Gather the tools
of your trade and bless them in order to bring a richer harvest next year.
• Share your harvest with others who
are less fortunate.
• Decorate with sickles, scythes, fresh vegetables & fruits, grains, berries, corn dollies,
bread. Colors are orange, gold, yellow, red and bronze.
January - Wolf Moon
- Storm Moon
March - Chaste Moon
April - Seed Moon
May - Hare Moon
June - Dyad Moon July - Mead Moon
"August – “Corn Moon”
September - Harvest Moon
October - Blood Moon
November - Snow Moon
December - Cold Moon
Bilberries are rarely cultivated but
fruits are sometimes collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands, notably in Fennoscandia, Scotland, Ireland
and Poland. Notice that in Fennoscandia, it is an everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership.
In Ireland the fruit is known as fraughan in English, from the Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the
last Sunday in July, known as Fraughan Sunday.
Bilberries were also collected
at Lughnassadh, the first traditional harvest festival of the year, as celebrated by the Gaelic people. The
crop of billberries was said to indicate how well the rest of the crops would fare in their harvests later in the year.
In English-speaking countries, August 1 is Lammas Day or loaf-mass day, the festival
of the first wheat harvest of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made
from the new crop. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat
to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it is referred to regularly,
it is called "the feast of first fruits". The blessing of new fruits was performed annually in
both the Eastern and Western Churches on the first, or the sixth, of August. The Sacramentary of Pope Gregory I (d. 604) specifies
In "mediæval times" the feast was known as
the "Gule of August", but the meaning of "gule" is unknown. Ronald Hutton suggests that it may be an Anglicisation
of gwyl aust, the Welsh name for August 1 meaning "feast of August", but this is not certain. If so, this points
to a pre-Christian origin for Lammas among the Anglo-Saxons and a link to the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh
The Old Ways: Lammas
by Doug and Sandy Kopf
the festival of the First Fruits of the Harvest, is the first festival of the Waning Year. It is celebrated
on July 31, while the climate (in the United States) is essentially still Summer.
takes its name from the Old English "hlaf," meaning "loaf" and "maesse," meaning “feast”.
Lammas has often been taken to mean Lamb-mass, because on August 1, the next day, is the Feast of St. Peter's Chains,
at which lambs are taken to church for blessing. (Can't you just picture a priest of the early Church saying, "Lammas?
We can do that HERE! Just tell them to bring their lambs to Church!)
This festival is
also called "Lugnasadh" (Loo-nah-sah), which has an entirely different meaning. The element "nasadh" relates
to the Gaelic, "to give in marriage," and so would mean the "Marriage of Lug," rather than Lugh's Mass,
which is a common interpretation. There is also some debate as to who the bride is, if there is one. Some authorities favor
Tailltiu (Lugh's foster mother) and others favor Eriu, i.e., Ireland, herself.
we do not celebrate a marriage at this time, preferring the loaf-feast concept, it is interesting to note that July
31 is exactly nine months prior to Beltane, which was once celebrated as the beginning of the New Year.
Until recent years, in Scotland, the first cut of the Harvest was made on Lammas Day, and was a ritual in
itself. The entire family must dress in their finest clothing and go into the fields. The head of the family would lay his
bonnet (hat) on the ground and, facing the Sun, cut the first handful of corn with a sickle. He would then
put the corn Sun-wise around his head three times while thanking the God of the Harvest for "corn and bread, food and
flocks, wool and clothing, health and strength, and peace and plenty." This custom was called the "Iolach Buana."
In the British Isles, the custom of giving the First Fruits to the Gods
evolved into giving them to the landlord. Lammas is now the traditional time for tenant farmers to pay their rent. Thus, Lammas
is seen as a day of judgment or reckoning. From this practice comes the phrase "--at latter Lammas",
meaning "never", or "not until Judgment Day."
An old custom that can
be re-created today is the construction of the Kern-baby or corn maiden at Lammas. This figure, originally made from the first
sheaf, would be saved until spring, "then" ploughed into the field to prepare for planting. (The Maiden
thus returns to the field at Spring.) Most of us, today, have no first sheaf nor shall we prepare a field at Spring,
but as a means of adding continuity to our festivals, the maiden can be made from the husks of corn served at the Lammas Feast,
then saved for use as a brideo'g at Candlemas.
"We have come together here
on this August Eve, to celebrate Lammas, the First Harvest, and the first day of the harvesting season. In these more modern
times it may be hard for some of us to relate to the old ways of farming, planting and harvesting crops. Of deciding what
seeds to keep for future planting. The work of the harvest, the chopping away and turning under of the chafe. Even though
most of us no longer farm, Lammas is still a time when we should stop and consider what has happened in the past seasons of
our lives and what we expect to take place in the seasons to come. This is a time to be aware of the things we have for which
we are grateful and decide what things we need to let go of and let pass away from us."
was the medieval Christian name for the Celtic holiday of Lughnasadh. Lammas literally translates 'loaf-mass' and is the Feast
of Bread in August. Lammas is a time of appreciation for nature, for Mother Earth and her gifts. In ancient times on this
day loaves were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings. At this time the best of the
first fruits of the harvest were sacrificed in order to ensure that future crops would be even better and more bountiful.
Our Ancestors understood that we must first give in order to receive."
the Oak trees observe first fruits in the 4th month.
at the height of the summer when most other trees are wilting from the heat, the oak produces a new
leaf called “Lammas shoots” thus adding new colour and freshness to the tree. These new
leafy shoots are golden-pink when young, turning from pale to dark green as they harden. In autumn the oak tree is at its
most majestic as its leaves change colour again turning from dark green to various shades of yellow, orange, russet and a
pale golden brown. The leaves sometime stay on the tree until the following spring or until the new buds forming for the next
year push them off.
I could comment on these and might later but the evidence
clearly shows a later Pentecost was observed by ancient Israel.
See True Pentecost at
For more information you
may call or write to:
Bro. Arnold Bowen
3466 Hightower Tr.
Georgia 30012 USA
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Email to: YHWHpeople@aol.com