5 Rituals for Lammas

The ancient festival of Lammas is just around the corner (1st August) so I thought I’d send a note with a few ways to channel your inner pagan and celebrate it.

Lammas has to be one of the simplest and warmest of all the seasonal festivals. Falling halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, it’s the perfect bridge between the two.

It sits directly opposite Imbolc (1st Feb) on the wheel of the year, and it’s the total opposite of the icy cool energy of early spring. As a festival day it’s warm, relaxed and filled with bread, sunflowers and sunshine.

While we don’t know exactly how our ancestors celebrated it, we can make an educated guess that it marked the start of the wheat harvest. So this is how many people choose to celebrate it today.

It’s so low key, there’s really no pressure to do anything other than notice the warmth all around you, eat fresh bread and perhaps bring a few sunshine-coloured flowers indoors.

When I was little, my mum used to make a harvest loaf every autumn in the shape of a sheaf of wheat. It had a plaited bread rope around the stalks to keep them together and there was always a little bread mouse hiding somewhere. It was golden-coloured and glazed on the top, and it lives large in my memory.

This year I’ll be making my own Lammas loaf to celebrate the start of the wheat harvest. Although I’ll be making mine in my breadmaker. My breadmaker is the second most essential item in my kitchen (after my coffee machine) and I have with absolutely zero shame in not making my bread from scratch. We’re all busy, we can’t do everything and rituals are supposed to be fun. So I’ll let my breadmaker do the hard work and will enjoy the smell of baking bread as it fills my kitchen.

Sunflowers are the flower of August, and they instantly make your home look cheerful. They’re usually only available in July and August too, unlike some flowers that you can find in the supermarket all year round. So they feel deeply seasonal. Some farms offer ‘pick your own sunflowers’ at this time of year too, which is my idea of a perfect day out.

You could also bring some seasonal colours and decor into your home if you fancy it. You know I will decorate my home seasonally at any opportunity. But with Lammas there is zero pressure. This isn’t like the decorating frenzy of Halloween or Christmas, but it just feels nice to bring some of the colours of the season indoors.

If you have a seasonal shelf or nature table you could update this with some orange or yellow crystals, dried grasses or a seasonal postcard or print. I have my eye on this one.

Just because a ritual is simple doesn’t mean it’s not powerful. I light a candle at each of the key moments in the seasonal calendar, as a way to link them all together. Sometimes that’s all I have time for, but it still gives me a small moment to stop and mark where we are in the ebb and flow of the year.

Beeswax candles are the absolute best you can buy, in my opinion. They are also incredibly expensive. So I tend to treat mine like gold dust. I hoard them like a dragon and bring them out for special occasions and seasonal rituals. They have a beautiful golden colour and they release a rich sweet honey scent as they burn. So for a festival of sunshine and warmth they’re perfect.

Some seasonal festivals are more solitary by nature, others are inherently social. Lammas is one of the more sociable ones, in my opinion. We’re still in summer, our energy levels are high, the days are hot and long and the evenings light and warm. If you need an opportunity to meet up with friends, this is the one. Pack some really good bread, pour a glass of chilled white wine and enjoy the long, warm evening.

Ok, that’s all for now, I hope you have a wonderful day filled with warmth, bread and good company.

Now it’s over to you to share your Lammas rituals and traditions in the Comments. I’m really interested to know if anyone else celebrates it and if so what your rituals and traditions look like?

I’ll see you next month for a September edition of the Monthly Notebook. We’ll be diving into Autumn Equinox rituals and doing a spot of harvest moon gazing.

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Vicky xx

Just a reminder that pre-orders are now open for my new book The Folklore Year. Hurrah! The August chapter has plenty more Lammas lore for you to enjoy.

If you’d like me to sign your copy, just pre-order directly from my website and I’ll sign it with a dramatic flourish, and also pop in a free mini poster for you (while stocks last).

Alternatively, if you’re not fussed about a signed copy but love a discount, Waterstones are currently offering a 25% discount on all preorders placed through their website. The offer ends today (24th July) so snap it up quickly if you’re interested.

If you’re based outside the UK you can find your local stockist here.