Lughnasadh is the first of the 3 harvest Sabbats and is typically celebrated on August 1st. It honors the Celtic Son God, Lugh and is a grain celebration. Certain grains such as wheat, corn and barley are ready to be harvested in August and many other grains too. The Old Irish word "Lunasa" means August as well.
There are a lot of similar celebrations around this time too from what I have read. For instance Native Americans celebrate early August as a grain festival in honor of the Corn Grandmother and called it the Festival of Green Corn.
What a lovely day it was. I woke in the morning to go pick some fresh herbs from the garden to make special herbal ice cubes for our grape juice later in the day. We don't normally buy or drink juice but on special occasions we do. :)
When I walked out to the garden with Little L on my back I noticed that the garden was covered in white butterflies! They were flying around playing with each other and sitting on the dirt and plants flapping their wings. I tried to get some good pictures but I guess I lack picture skills with the butterflies... I tried taking a picture from further away to show them all but you couldn't even seem them and taking them up close when they are moving is hard too!
Three little butterflies♥
There are other names for this Sabbat, the most common probably is Lammas, meaning "loaf-mass", it is an Anglo-Saxon word. It is also sometimes known as the Feast of Bread. And feast on bread we did! :)
We made honey wheat bread. And Little L now seems to think it is funny when I am kneading bread. He is on my back in the baby carrier and every time I punch down the bread he laughs! :D I am glad he thinks its fun cause my wrists sure don't think 10 minutes of kneading is!
One perfect little ball of dough turned into two yummy loaves of bread. Using this recipe
HERE. And we have been eating it smothered in apple butter ever since.
We made blackberry pie.
Shh I know It is a premade crust but I was running out of time making stuff. I think we all survived. :)
We had
THIS as well, it was pretty yummy although I had to leave out the spinach and tomato as I didn't have any...
Topped with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream, it was like bowl of burrito.
We tried to have a picnic on the floor in the living room but Little L decided he wanted to fling beans from all of our bowls so we made our way to the table.
Big L seems to think you can't have any kind of a picnic without hot dogs so I made them each one. Don't worry they are organic, nitrate free and all that good stuff. :) Little L also thought their cups were better for food then for drinks...
Last to mention but certainly not least was the food altar we created outside before we ate. We burned some sandalwood and frankincense in my little cauldron. I really wish it had kept the mosquitoes away, but they were awful and the reason we tried to picnic indoors...
I have to thank Spiritrunner and her post at
Hearth-N-Home for this wonderful fun idea for the food altar this year!
That orange thing in the middle is a cucumber from our garden that started changing colors so we picked it and added it to the center.
He was so happy to leave some food for Mother Earth and the animals to eat too :)
I hope those who celebrate Lughnasadh had a wonderful day! And if you don't I hope your day was great too! ♥
