Lammas Bread and Spell

Lammas/Lughnasadh

Traditionally, August 1 marks the beginning of the first harvest, and the time we celebrate two ancient festivals that have a similar focus.  Lammas/Lughnasadh also serves as one of the four major pagan festivals. Celebrations include baking bread from the first grains of the harvest and blessing them in a church ceremony known as the “loaf-mass.” "Lammas" is a shortened form of "loaf mass."  

As hard as it may be to believe when it’s 104, Lammas/Lughnasadh also marks the end of summer, the beginning of fall, and the last quarter of the Celtic year. Both festivals celebrate the fruits of the harvest, the complete cycle of life and the fruitfulness of the first grain harvest. Historically, at this time people started preparing for winter by baking bread and cakes to store for the cold. The Green man is dying, having sacrificed his life for the harvest and will be reborn from the Goddess in the spring. It's also a time to count your blessings.

It’s the time of the year to think about our personal harvest as well.  What are we harvesting in our own lives? It is also a season to throw away useless thoughts and habits and to form new ones to give ourselves renewed strength.

Colors: Gold and Bright Yellow

Symbols: Summer flowers, nuts, and grains

Lammas Bread:

Bread is the ultimate symbol of the Lammas season. After the harvest, farmers mill the grain and bake it into bread, which they then eat. It is the cycle of the harvest come full circle. The spirit of the grain god lives on through us in the eating of the bread. In many traditions, people bake a special loaf of bread in the shape of a man, to symbolize the god of the harvest.

 You can easily make a loaf of Lammas bread by using a pre-made loaf of bread dough, found in the frozen food section in your grocery store. Certainly, you can make your own dough, but if you don’t want to bake bread from scratch, this is an easy alternative.

First, place the frozen bread dough on a greased cookie sheet. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil, and place it on top of the dough. Place the tray in a warm place, and allow the dough to rise for several hours until it has at least doubled in size. Once the dough has risen, cut five slits in it, to represent where you would like the arms and legs to be.

Shape the two lower sections into legs, the side sections into arms, and the top section into a head. Bake the bread for 40 minutes, at about 350 degrees, or until golden brown. After baking, remove from oven and allow the bread to cool on a wire rack. Brush the bread man with melted butter, sprinkle with herbs if you like, and use in your Lammas ritual.

Lammas Bread Protection Spell:

For this spell, I would advise just making a plain loaf of bread rather than trying to do it with the loaf you shaped into a man, simply because it will be easier to break into four pieces; however, either will work. Originally, farmers would cut the Lammas loaf into four pieces and bury them in the four corners of their barns to keep the grain safe. You can use this in a protection spell for your home.

Bake a Lammas loaf.

When it is cool, break it into five pieces. Do not cut it with a knife.

Set up your altar to honor the Sun God and the Goddess.

Invoke the deities and request their blessing in your work. 

Place 1/5^th of the loaf of bread on the altar as an offering to the God and Goddess.

Take one to each corner of your property with the words:

I call on the spirits of the watchtower of the north

Protect this place, now, and for the time to come.

Leave the bread for the birds to eat.

Repeat the blessing for each direction moving clockwise from north to east to south to west.

Return to your altar and close the spell by thanking the god and goddess and the spirits for their help.