The beginning of the harvests brings to mind early thoughts of Summer's
end. This time has always signaled an important holiday for my personal
connection with the seasons, and indeed it is a critical marker for
many Pagans. It is the time of Lammas, the first holiday to hint at
autumn and the first harvest festival on the Pagan calendar.
The human race seems to have inherited a disconnection from the
process of the year. We do not harvest our own food or pay attention
to the seasons. We sometimes realize that we are more introverted
during the winter and more outgoing during the summertime, but we
do not tend to notice the changes the seasons have on our body much
past that.
Symbolism thus becomes an integral part of our seasonal practice.
To Pagans, Lammas is the time to symbolically honor our sacrifices,
both individual and collective. For Pagans personal sacrifice is not
always an undesired, negative aspect of our lives. Sacrifice, literally
translated, means to make sacred. By sacrificing these parts of our
lives we not only bring our lives closer to the divine, we also bring
that negative aspect of our being closer to the sacred. Maybe we had
to withhold love from a friend, stop eating meat or stop supporting
a cause that deprives others of their basic rights. These are all
important sacrifices that bring us closer to deity.
When I delivered a sermon two years ago on the harvest festivals,
I spoke of the very deep transformations I had gone through and the
inevitable, painful sacrifice they heralded. What I later realized
I had left out was the collective, communal sacrifices our leaders
and teachers have made for our betterment as a growing community.
Neo-Pagans do not have a set of saints and martyrs who are frequently
honored and revered. However, as Starhawk puts it in the Spiral Dance,
we do honor those, named and unnamed, who have sacrificed for our
communal betterment. For the named – Doreen Valiente, Gerald B. Gardner,
Zsuzsanna E. Budapest, and Sybil Leek as just a few individuals who
had to face a subtle destruction of credibility, if not open discrimination,
for speaking out on our faith. For the unnamed – the thousands of
women and men burned, hung, drowned and tortured to death as Witches.
These people will be remembered at Lammas, and will complete the circle
for this holiday's observance.
Whether new or old to the religion of Paganism, Lammas is a way
to better understand a frequently ignored, yet critical part of the
human experience. Blessed be as the wheel turns.
