3 Ways to Celebrate Lammas
Summer Echo | Blog | February 10, 2025
🌻Honoring the First Harvest with Intention, Craft, and Community
As the golden haze of late summer settles over the fields, we arrive at Lammas—the sacred cross-quarter festival nestled between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. Named from the Old English hlaf-mas, meaning “loaf mass,” Lammas marks the first grain harvest, a time when communities once gathered to bless the bread made from the first sheaf and offer gratitude to the land that nourished them.
Lammas, also called Lughnasadh (in honor of the Celtic sun god Lugh), is a moment to both celebrate abundance and acknowledge the subtle turn toward darker days. The sun still shines, but we know: the wheel is turning.
🔥 Seasonal Colors & Symbols
Lammas invites us into a palette of sun-warmed gold, burnt orange, deep green, rich brown, and blood red—echoing both ripened grain and falling leaves. Its symbols are earthy and grounded:
🌾 Sheaves of Wheat & Corn – the harvest itself, a symbol of life and sustenance
🌻 Sunflowers – loyalty to the sun and joyful resilience
🍞 Fresh Bread – nourishment, gratitude, and the sacred act of transformation
🕯 Candles – the lingering light, and our inner fire
🌀 Sun wheels, labyrinths, Celtic knots – cycles, continuity, and the journey inward
Whether you place a simple loaf on your altar or craft a bundle of wheat into a sacred figure, the energy of Lammas is grounded in giving thanks and preparing for transition.
🌽 1. Craft a Corn Dolly: Weave Your Intentions into Form
Corn dollies are traditional symbols of protection, fertility, and abundance. Historically made from the last sheaf of wheat harvested, these figures were believed to house the spirit of the grain goddess through the winter.
Make your own corn dolly using wheat stalks, raffia, or corn husks. As you braid and bind the figure, infuse it with your gratitude and intentions for the coming season. Place her on your altar or hearth as a reminder of what you’ve sown—and what you’re still tending.
Tip: Don’t worry about perfection. Let this be a sacred craft, not a Pinterest project.
🌻 2. Host a Harvest Swap: Share the Abundance
Lammas is the perfect time to gather in community and celebrate what’s been growing—physically, creatively, or spiritually.
Invite friends or neighbors to a Harvest Swap where everyone brings something they’ve grown, made, or harvested. It could be tomatoes, herbs, flower bouquets, fresh-baked bread, or homemade jam. If you don’t have a garden this year, bring something handmade or heartfelt.
The point is connection. Sharing. Gratitude.
🍞 What better way to honor the first grain than by breaking bread with others?
✍️ 3. Reflect with Gratitude & Set Intentions
Lammas asks us to take stock—not just of crops, but of growth.
Light a candle, brew a cup of tea, and sit with your journal. Ask yourself:
What have I been cultivating this year?
What is coming into full bloom?
What must I release to make room for the next harvest?
You can also write a gratitude list or create a "Harvest Mandala" with words, drawings, or items that symbolize the fruits of your labor—both seen and unseen.
🌕 Even small victories deserve to be celebrated. Even unseen roots matter.
