Lammas is a time to celebrate. The grain is gathered in, we have bread for the winter, so let the games begin!
It’s an ancient tradition that still holds true today. Around villages across the country, the fields, now cleared of grain, suddenly burst with colour as bunting heralds various fetes and fayres and pageants and jousts and so forth. We can have fun. It’s official!
Of course, with all traditional celebrations there is a flip-side, a reckoning. The seed that was sown may not have produced the anticipated abundant harvest. For our ancestors, the winter ahead may have looked lean without this staple food.
So, what does this mean for us today?
Well, for one thing, it is hard to think about the grain harvest without also thinking about the situation in the Ukraine, the bread basket of Europe. Prayers for their well being, for peace, and for those gathering the harvest will be well placed.
In our own life, we may find that all our Springtime activity and planning is not producing the harvest we envisaged. Our dream is slipping through our fingers. This does not signify failure, it just tells us we need to go back to the drawing board to revisit the plan for next year.
As the scythe cuts the upright grain and lays it flat, so we may have to do the same with some of our expectations. Maybe they were not meant to happen the way we wanted them to, maybe the timing was wrong. Whatever the reason, something good will have come out of it. We will have learned more about our plan or about ourself. Next time we will be better informed, better prepared.
Or maybe, just maybe, we really do need to let it go.
Let’s break bread this Lammas and give thanks for our harvest or our gleanings.
Many blessings