Lammastide (Mid-week Message)

Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message

Lammastide

July 27, 2016

In the traditional calendar of the Church of England, August 1 is known as Lammas Day.   Originally a pre-Christian Celtic early harvest feast “Lugnasad” that honored Lugh, the sun God, it was “baptized” by missionary saints like Patrick and Aidan and turned into a Christian festival.  The Saxons renamed it “hlaf-maesse” or “Loaf Mass” because by that time its major ceremony was to offer in churches small loaves made from the new wheat harvest in thanksgiving for the harvest to come.   It thus became a Christian celebration of first fruits and thanksgiving, an expression of joy and hope for the full harvest to come.

Of interest to Ashlanders with our love of Shakespeare, is the fact that in Act 1 Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet, the nurse tells us that “On Lammas-Eve at night shall [Juliet] be fourteen.”  Her name echoes the month of her birth.   July 31 is her birthday. This not only sets up the scene for the dog days of August brawls that cause the tragedy, but also hints at the melancholy fate of the girl, who will not live to see the full harvest of her early hopeful youth. 

Here at Trinity, we will have a special offering of Lammas loaves this Sunday during Eucharist.  We also encourage you gardeners to bring a small representative collection of whatever vegetables, herbs, or fruits you have already harvested.  They will be blessed along with the loaves, and during coffee hour we encourage you to share them with other parishioners to take home and enjoy part of your bounty.  Lammas bread will be used in Eucharist, and other loaves will grace the coffee hour table. 

The point of the celebration is to give thanks and express hope for a bountiful year at the time the harvest is just starting.  

Grace and Peace. 
Fr. Tony+