Lammas Questions and answers from Yahoo

In am lousy at explaining Pagan holidays. I know them in my head and what they mean and why I celebrate them, but for some reason I have a hard time explaining it on paper. When I look around the net, I seem to find a lot of imformation, so it is just easier to pass it on here.
I thought this was an interesting article. I found it on Yahoo Answers and I wanted to share it for all of you who do not follow a Pagan path. Also here are some photos of my Lammas Altar


Question: Lammas what is it???
is it on the night of august 31 or something and is a sabbath what does it have to do with witches what sort of thing do they do on this date???

Answer

Lammas pronouced (Lah-mas) is not just related to 'Witches" it is an ancient Pagan festival (the Name Lammas came from the Saxon or Old English "hlaf," meaning "loaf" and "maesse," meaning feast.), which means loaf-mass.

It is a harvest festival, and a Fires Festival . (One of Eight Sabbat Festivals celebrated by Pagans - four major/four minor) That are still celebrated today by Pagans around the world. It is actually Celebrated on the Eve of July 31st through to the morning of August the 1st. (The Pagans celebrated a day as BEGINNING at sunset).

It is the first Festival of the waning year and celebrated the first day of Autumn. It is also sometimes called the Festival of First Fruits, and the first sheaves of grain were cut.

This festival is also called "Lughnasadh" (Loo-nah-sah), which has an entirely different meaning. The "nasadh" relates to the Gaelic, "to give in marriage," and so means the "Marriage of Lugh," basically this was the time the King of the People "Married" the "Bride of the Land" a Priestess who later during Beltaine (another of the Festivals, celebrating the "Great Rite") would consecrate the relationship making him a true King.

What Pagans generally do, differs from Coven to Coven, Tradition to Tradition............heres an example:

** An old custom that can be re-created today is the construction of the Kern-baby or corn maiden at Lammas. This figure, originally made from the first sheaf, would be saved until spring, then ploughed into the field to prepare for planting. (The Maiden thus returns to the field at Spring.)
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I found this table cloth a few months ago at a thrift store and knew it would be perfect for the fall sabbaths

Close up of cloth





On the table itself I put the following things:





The basket is made from corn husk and if you look closely you can see tiny corn stalks on it. There is a mirror of the sun sitting in the basket. The sun is in honor of Lugh the sun God who Lughnasadh is named (Another name for Lammas) The troll is a harvest troll. In his basket find things from the garden. The woman is a corn dolly witch that was made by Carries mom Jet. She was a gift for me and I keep her out year round.

No real plans for the day itself. I will probably do a small private ritual and plan on cooking some corn bread (one of the tradional food for this sabbath).
I hope everyone enjoys the day