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Although it has a fascinating history, little is known about Lammas (or Lughnasa), one of the eight festivals of the witches' Wheel of the Year. Celebrated in early August to mark the beginning of harvest, it comes from the Irish Gaelic nasad (games) of Lugh (a leading Celtic deity and hero). Lammas helps you celebrate with recipes, incense, spells, traditional types of divination, and several full rituals, some never before published.
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Celebrating the Fruits if the First Harvest Anna Franklin & Paul Mason .I - - LAMMAS MAGIC The Celtic festival of Lughnasa (from the Gaelic nasad, meaning "games or assem bly" of Lugh, a Celtic deity and hero) survived the rise of Christianity by becoming Lammas (from the Anglo-Saxon hlaef-mass, meaning "loaf-mass"). It marks the start of the harvest when the first grain is gathered, ground, and baked into a loaf of bread. The Lammas loaf is still traditional in many parts of the British Isles. It is a wonderful way for the modern kitchen witch to work magic. Lammas Bread wish Spell • Make a loaf of bread at Lammas and before you put the loaf into the oven, dip a paintbrush in milk and write on the crust what you most desire. Bake the bread, then eat it while still warm . Lammas Bread Protection Spell A book of Anglo-Saxon charms advised the crumbling of the Lammas loaf into four pieces and the burying of them in the four corners of the barn to make it safe for all the grain that would be stored there. You can use this old spellcraft in a pro tection spell for your home. Bake a Lammas loaf, and when it is cool break it into four pieces don't cut it with a knife-and take one to each corner of your property with the words: call on the spirits Of north and south, east and west Protect this place Now, at the time of the Blessing. I Leave the bread for the birds to eat or bury the pieces. / :s the l Paul ! also lawn rated thor- ~ammas Celebrating Fruits of the First Harvest . this I foryou. 5 can he .ANNA FRANKLIN AND PAUL MASON 2001 Llewellyn Publications St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0383 CONTENTS Part I: History, Customs, and Lore of Lughnasa and Lammas Chapter I: The Forgotten Festival .......... 3 Lammas • Lughnasa New Style or old Style Traditional Lughnasa/Lammas Customs • Hilltop Gatherings and Pilgrimages Croagh Patrick· Lhuany's Day (Isle of Man) • LammasTowers (Scotland) Holy Wells· Well Dressing (England) • Fairs and Wakes· Puck Fair (Ireland) Muff Fair (Ireland)· Ram Fair (Ireland) Royal National Eisteddfod (Wales) • Wake Fairs (England) Sports and Games· Highland Games (Scotland) • Grasmere Sports (England) Herri Kilorak (Spain) • Grand Wardmote (England) • Horseracing (Ireland) Horse-swimming (Ireland) • Ridings (England and Scotland) Lammas Battles· Faction-Fighting· Battle of the Flowers (United Kingdom) Other Lughnasa/Lammas Customs· Quarter Day Legalities (England and Scotland) Rush-Bearing (England) • Telltown Marriages, Handfasting, and Wife-selling Queensferry Burryman and Ferry Fair (Scotland) • Bilberry Sunday (Ireland) Cally Sunday (Ireland). Blessing ofFirst Fruits (France) • Marie au Ble (France) Marymass or La Feille Moire (Scotland) • Crom Dubh Sunday (Ireland) Chapter 2: Around the World .......... 29 Ancient Greece· Ancient Rome· Assyria' Akkadia • Mesopotamia Norse· Ancient Egypt· Canaan· Israel· North America Russia and Eastern Europe. India Chapter 3: Lugh ......... ·47 The Cult