Lammas/Lughnasadh, The weather held...

Well despite having a sea fog roll in the day before and slight rain first thing in the morning by the afternoon the weather was bright and sunny, in fact rather hot!

At sunset on Saturday we held our small family ritual welcoming in Lammas, the bread just freshly finished and warm on our altar, we gave our thanks for our good harvest. We have had the allotment only a short while but we have been very blessed with the abundant crops we have had in such time.

On Sunday we had headed to Eastbourne and joined the crowds at celebrating Lammas. Sitting with my family and friends sharing the Dwarfs loaf/Lammas Loaf I had made (anyone who reads Discworld will know what I mean by that!) and realising that although it looked great it was in fact an ickle bit on the tough side, was good. Soon delving into the pies and quiches I had made from our home grown ingredients, we were surrounded by the lovely sound of music and sight of Morris Dancers.

The great thing about Morris is that they encourage anyone to have a go and I have to say those children really did show us adults’ sense of timing and rhythm up! Finishing our feast and wondering around we came across many a craft from Pottery to Ironwork, Painting to Carving. Stopping to say hello to folk we knew and to congratulate those we didn’t know on their hard efforts took us to the gentle point of needing a refreshing drink so off to the music/hop tent.

Eventually though it was time to go, a fair journey home and a sleepy child to contend with. Hoping you all enjoyed your celebrations.

John Barleycorn at Eastbourne Lammas Festival

I have snuck out of the kitchen where I have been cooking all day (8 hours so far!) in preparation for our feast with our friends tomorrow. This is from 2008, hoping that this years is just as good! Blessed Lammas/Lughnasadh to you all.

Lughnasadh/Lammas: How do you celebrate yours?

Well we will be mixing with good company at Eastbourne’s Lammas Festival. In its 10th year they will be celebrating with good music, beer and lots of little craft and extras stalls. The best bit? Well all profit goes to the RNLI so a worthwhile event.

We went last year and apart from the horizontal rain (yes it was that bad) had a ball. The people were welcoming and willing to natter about anything. The music was great and Littleun loved dancing to it whilst taking lots of photos. This year we will be going with some family & friends and taking a picnic with us.

Food for celebrating this time of year is obviously important. Lammas is the first of the harvests and with that in mind we try to represent each part in our feast/picnic. We make our own bread and as we break the first loaf remember the hard work that has gone into the growing of the wheat, remembering also to keep some of the grain to sow in the New Year. This year we have been particularly lucky with the weather and we give thanks to our family deities. The other foods we take tend to be things like a jar of the strawberry jam, some of our first apples, this time abundant in the garden, quiches made with the veg and salads again grown by us. Oh and a jar of cidre made by a rather pickled but clever friend!

There are lots of things good about the Eastbourne celebration one of which is the ability to mingle with crafts and arty folk. You can sit and get shown how to make corn dolls, or see leather work going on. You can try your hand at wood turning, in my case making a rather wonky wood bowl, lovely to look at but useless as things will fall out of the side as I got the angles a bit wrong! I like to sew so it’s good to chat with the girls and find out how they did the turn that looks wonderful but impossible, or where to find the right material for the bodice I am making etc. And of course the music I mentioned earlier is an art too. We like music in this house, never far from the radio or instruments and Littleun is becoming rather good at drumming so a perfect excuse to get up and join in the ceilidh that will be going on.

Well that’s how we will be doing ours, how will you be doing yours, do leave a comment if you fancy sharing!