Lughnasadh - Treats

Mead

SUPPLIES:

• 6-8 oz honey (preferably local)
• 1 gallon white wine
• 6-7 citrus or spice tea bags
• large glass stockpot
• glass bottles or jars

PROCEDURE:

1. Mix honey, wine, teabags and fruit in large stockpot
2. Bring to a boil for 1 minute
3. Simmer for 2-3 minutes
4. Let cool
5. Transfer to glass bottles or jars
6. Refrigerate for 3 days

Melon Sorbet

SUPPLIES:

• 4 cups melon, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup granulates superfine sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• (optional: 1 tsp dark or spiced rum)
• blender or food processor
• coarse siece
• wire whisk

PROCEDURE:

1. Puree the melon in a blender or food processor and strain through the seive
2. Combine 1/2 cup of melon with the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring frequently
3. Remove from the heat and add the remaining melon, lemon jiuce and mix well.
4. Cover tightly and freeze overnight (If adding the rum do it just as the sorbet is about to feeze)
5. Spoon into bowls or refrigerated melon rinds. Garnish with berrise and honeyed whipped topping (see next).

Honey Whipped Topping

SUPPLIES:

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 tbs honey
• 1/2 cup whipped heavy cream
• wire whisk

PROCEDURE:

1. Whisk the cream cheese and honey together until smooth
2. Fold in whipped cream
3. Refrigerate.

Lughnasadh Pie
Blueberries, also known as fraughans, herts or bilberries, are connected with the ancient festival of Lughnasadh. In later years, the Sabbat came to be known as Garland Sunday, a time when the whole village would gather for a day of singing, dancing, courting, feasting and picking wild blueberries.

SUPPLIES:

1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
Grated zest of ½ lemon
Salt to taste
5 cups of fresh blueberries
Pastry for 9 inch, 2-crust pie
Juice of one lemon

PROCEDURE:

1 tablespoon butter Combine sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt to taste. Add blueberries, tossing to thoroughly coat fruit. Pour mixture into a pie crust drizzle with lemon juice and dab with butter. Place top of pie crust over pie; seal and flute edges. Cover edge of pie with foil. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
See also: The Festival of Lughnasadh
*From Celtic Folklore and Cooking by Joanne Asala. Llewellyn Publications. 2001. http://www.irelandsown.net/pie.html

Lammas Cookies
These sunny cookies are eaten at feasts honouring the Sun God, Lugh.

SUPPLIES:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
¼ cup Irish whiskey
¼ cup candied lemon peel
¼ cup of sultanas or golden raisins
¼ cup almonds, chopped

PROCEDURE:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until blended. Add flour and Irish whiskey and beat until smooth. Add fruit and nuts and mix well. Drop dough from a tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes. Remove from sheet while cookies are still warm.
*From Celtic Folklore and Cooking by Joanne Asala. Llewellyn Publications. 2001

Shannon's Fav Lughnasadh Crafts

The following are from Magickal Crafts by Kristen Madden & Liz Roberts

Vision Incense

To help your vision be clearer.

SUPPLIES:

• 1 tsp gum tragacanth or bum arabic
• glass or bowl of warm water
• wet cloth
• 1 part mugwort (artemisia vulgaris)
• 1 part cinnamon
• 1 part sage
• saltpeter (potassium nitrate)
• 6 parts powdered sandalwood or cedarwood
• 2 parts powdered benzoin
• 1 part ground orris root
• 6-9 drops essential oil (myrrh or sandalwood)
• waxed paper
• small kitchen scale
• ceramic or stoneware bowl
• food grinder
• thin wooden skewers
• Styrofoam square to hold skewers

PROCEDURE:

1. To make tragacanth gum glue, which you will leter need: Dissolve 1 tsp of the gum in a glass or bowl of the warm water. You may need to whick it a bit to dissolve it completely. {If you plan to make stick incense - which is more difficult than cones or blocks, thin the glue with a bit more water. For blocs or cones it should be almost dough like, but for sticks it should be a bit thinner} Cover with the wet cloth and set aside. If it thickens too much while sitting, just add a little bit more water. {Whatever you don't use will keep for a month}
2. Prepare your incense Mixture. Grind together 1 part of each: mugwort, cinnamon, sage, to form a powder.
3. In a bowl mix the wood, benzoin and irris root well. Add essential oils - Mix Well.
4. Add 4-5 parts incense mixture to the oil mixture.
5. Weigh and add 10% saltpeper. Do not add more than 10%. Mix Well.
6. Addgum glue and mix well. Form into blocks or cones on waxed paper For sticks, dip skewers into teh mixture and stick them into syrofoam to dry. You can dip 4-6 times until they are as thick as you want. Allow to dry slightly between dippings.
7. Allow to dry 2 - 7 days in a warm dry place until thoroughly dry.

Tree Spirit

I know being a Druid I'm most content when surrounded by nature - a forest, plain, whatever. We're all a little bit like "tree huggers". The following is a representation of the Green Man. Remember the Green Man is a tribute to the spirit in every tree or plant. At this time (Lughnassadh or Lammas) you may want to create a representation of the Green Man at his prime to grace your home through the darkest parts of the year to come. Or you can use the colors of harvest to celebrate the ripening and circle of life.

SUPPLIES:

• large pin or needle
• polling pin
• oven
• baking tray
• 26 gauge wire, 6 - 8 inches long
• 2-oz packs of polymer clay: either plain colorless (if you wantt o paint) or in the following colors: chocolate brown, sand, pearl, black, green, leaf green
• paints (optional)

PROCEDURE:

1. Mix one pack of chocoate brown clay with one pack of sand-colored clay. Kneed together until the clay is pliable and the two colors swirl together like marble
2. Form half of the marbled brown clay mix into a flat 4-inch wide circle
3. Shape a nose from some of the remaining clay and mold it into the center of the circle. I do this by rolling a ball about the size of a golf-ball then after placing it on the circle- I use my thumb and fore-finger to smooth out the nose.
4. Roll out 2 pearl-colored balls each about the size of a marble
5. Roll out 2 green-colored balls each about the size of a pea
6. Roll out 2 black-colored balls each about 1/2 the size of a pea.
7. Stack the green balls on the pearl balls. Then stack the black balls on the green. Firmly press these 2 stacks onto the 4 inch circle to form the eyes
8. Shape the teeth by roling out a small sausage of pearl clay. THen flatten it a little before carving lines with the point of a pin to separate individual teeth. Press the teeth into the place of the mouth on the 4 inch circle.
9. Use the remaining marbled clay to form the chin, lips, cheeks, eyelids and brow.
10. Marble-mix 2 green colors together as you did the browns.
11. Roll out the marbled green into a 1/8-inch-thick slab with a rolling pin.
12. Use the needle or pin to cut out 12 - 12 leaf shapes
13. Arrange the leaves around the face to form the Green Man's hair and beard. Then attatch each leaf by pressing some part of it firmly in to the face.
14. I use the needle or pin to incise the veind and variation to each leaf
15. Push a small hoop into the back (center, top) of the face
16. Bake according tot he manufacturers instructions
17. If painting allow the face to cool completely - make sure to schlack it good when finished.
18. Hang on a wall or your favorite tree

Lughnasadh - Theses and Festivities

Themes:

First Harvest, Grain Harvest, Sacrifice, THe Celtic God Lugh

Key Activities:

• Make Corn Dollies
• Make a wreath out of grain
• Bless Marriages, Babies and Homes
• Roast the First Ears of Corn in the Fire
• Tell stories of Lugh, and Demeter and Persephone
• Hold games of strength and agility
• Have an Outdoor Picnic
• Design an outdoor scavenger hunt (using items to celebrate the season - these can be used in a spellfor ongoing prosperity and health throughout winter)
• Desplay, barter or sell artwork or crafts
• Hold a Celtic Bragfest, or storytelling contest
• Bake Braided Bread
• Make decorative wheat ornaments
• Start a harvest quilt, to finish by Yule for a needy family
• Start some beer, to drink at Imbolg
• Enact the Sun God transforming nito the Grain God
• Ask each person (family and friends) "What will your harvest be this year?"

Seasonal Appropriate Foods:

• Grains
• Breads
• Roast Corn on the Cob
• Cookies
• Cake
• Zucchini Bread
• Braided Bread

Chants and Songs

• Hoof and Horn
• Oh Tell My Why
• Sun King
• Horned One, Lover, Son

Recepies and Directions for the above will be forthcoming within this coming week.

Lughnassadh - Celebrate the Harvest

Lughnassadh or Lammas Arrives on August 1 or 2 or when the Sun is at 1 degree Leo.

LUGHNASSADH LORE

It is the first of the 3 Harvest Festivals celebrating the Earth releasing her bounty to us. Lammas is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon words for "loaf mass": referring to the honor paid to the first loaf of bread made from the grain of the year's harvest.(1) Since the God was injured at Litha he begins to die in earnest during Lammas. The God sacrifices Himself to rebirth so that he comes back in the way of the harvest to feed his people throughout the upcoming winter. The God's sacrifice (not to be confused with many Christian beliefs that this involves crazy knife-wielding Priests. *giggle*) is sacred, its just a transfer of His energy. When we eat the bread made of the grain of His sacrifice - we are taking a part of him into ourselves...absorbing some of His energy. When we partake of the grain we serve multiple purposes in the Great Cycle of Life (1):
1) We honor the God by eating to survive, our very survival making His sacrifice more sacred.
2) We eat the "seed" of the God in the form of the grain - this will eventually result in magickal pregnancy that will allow the God to be reborn in the Spring.
3) We are taking into ourselves His qualities and responsibilities: We're making a type of oral contract to carry on His work of living in the service of life throughout a harsh Winter.

Therefore, the eating of the Lammas Bread is a sacred act; helping us to reconfirm the sacredness of life, death and rebirth (1).

The Celtics call this High Holy Day Lughnassadh. (LOONA-saad or Loo-NAS-aad). This refers to the games that, acording to folklore, the Celtic Sun God Lugh established in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu(2). These were games of speed and strength: such as races, tosses, and wrestling. We don't know what the original motivation was, but it can be assumed that as the Gods strength began to wane as he died, a last show of strength was called for. Conversely some Celtics believe Lughnassadh celebrates the marriage of Lugh. In ancient Ireland, Lughnassadh was celebrated in Tell-Town (in what is now the Count Meath) and in 3 other locations, Emain acha in Ulster, Carman in Leinster, and at Tara.

Some folk tales tell us Lughnassadh was an occasion for the settling of legal and political matters, such as treaties, while the games and feasting were held. However in a poem preserved in a medieval manuscript, we learn that at Carmen, there weer prohibitions: deeds of violence, abductions, the repudiation of husband or wife, and the levying of debts. The penalties ascribed by this poem for violating those prohibitions were severe - "Whoever transgresses the law of the King Beren prescribed firmly for ever that he should not thrive in his tribe but should die for his mortal sins." (2)

Handfasting was an important part of the Lughnassadh celebration. This was an informal Hand-In-Fist - a marriage without a marriage that lasted a year and a day to the next Lughnassadh. If the bride became pregnant within that time then no wedding or more formal handfasting was required. If conception didn't occur than the formal wedding was held at the next Lughnassadh celebration. If the marriage was not to be re-newed or made more permanent the Bride and Groom would stand back to back facing North and South and walk away from each other. Such trial marriages were common in the 1500's. (2)

Some Traditions begin celebrations at Lammas-Tide (July 31). This is the Celebration of Freyr, the brother of the fertility and Moon Goddess Freya. There are many similarities in Freyr's lore as there are in Lugh's. Just like Lugh, Freyr had many skills as talents - He was said to have possessed a boat that not only could hold up the Gods, but which could also be folded up!

Almost all Pagans who celebrate this first harvest festival create or honor mounds. Corn and grain are often gathered in stooks, or tee-pee shaped bundles. Other crops are sometimes piles into traditional mounds. These can look like the burial mound, and so that is just as they represent - the death of the God and crops at the time of harvest. In the Wiccan Tradition, a grave is a womb, for the Earth is the body of the Goddess. From Her - we and the God - are reborn. Seeds and roots beget their own rebirth, from the Earth, to the Earth. (1) Mounds are also traditional entries to and from the Palaces of the Otherworlds, the land of Youth where the immortal Gods and Fae live. So, we can incorporate them into our rituals or celebrations.

Lammas-Tide is a mystical combination of waning Summer and impending Winter. Though the harvest has stated Summer is still here. But as we see it coming to an end we much hurry to enjoy the time left before the dark time.

References:
(1) Celebrating The Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon; by Ashleen O'Gaea ppg 99 - 103.
(2) The Solitary Druid: by Rev Robert Lee (Skip) Ellison ppg 145 - 149