Celebrating Lammas | August 1

Lammas (or Lughnasadh in some traditions) is historically a time of the first harvest of the year, associated with abundance and growth, Lammas will always fall on August 1st in the Northern Hemisphere and February 1st in the Southern Hemisphere. There are many ways to celebrate Lammas, whether you're celebrating alone or looking for family activities, there is plenty to do! Below we will go over a few ways to celebrate!

Set up your Lammas Altar

Lammas, the beginning of the great harvest! A celebration of plenty, abundance, when summer meets fall. Setting up your Altar for Lammas should be a celebration in itself! This is a time to celebrate life and all that lives! You can use bright colors of summer with the cooling colors of fall, use fresh flowers, herbs, fruits and veggies from your garden or local market. I like to celebrate by harvesting some of my own homegrown vegetables a day or two ahead of time. I leave them out on my altar for a day and use them for a feast on Lammas! If you have access to straw or grain stalks you can make your own straw braids for you altar, braiding three pieces of straw together as one to represent the sky, land and sea in perfect harmony! You can light a green candle on your Lammas altar to represent the harvest! Pine cones, corn and acorns are also very great Lammas offerings for your altar. The possibilities are limitless and every altar is as unique as the person it belongs to, so express yourself! No one can Lammas like you can Lammas! Lammas-ee what you've got, show the group what your Lammas altar looks like, pics in group!

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Make Bread

I also like to bake bread since Lammas is a harvest holiday (one loaf for myself and my family and another loaf for my altar as an offering and thanks) I use many herbs and edible flower petals (when available) in my Lammas bread! You can use just about any herbs and veggies you have available in this savory Focaccia bread recipe, not only are they fun to make and delicious but each one is truly a work of art!

* This dough is best prepared the day before use!

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)

• 1/2 cup olive oil (half for drizzling on the pan and half for drizzling on bread after rising

• 2 cups of warm water divided into two bowls

• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon coarse salt

• 3 Tablespoons fresh chopped Rosemary

• Fresh veggies and herbs for toppings

Get cooking:

1. Combine yeast and sugar in your first cup of warm water, mix well. Let sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy.

   
   

2. (If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, break that bad boy out for this next part, if not, use a mixing bowl and spoon) In a mixing bowl combine your yeast mixture with one cup of flour. Mix well until combined.

   
   

3. Add your remaining water, 1/4 cup olive oil (half of the called for amount) 1 tablespoon coarse salt, and half of your remaining flour. Mix well until combined.

   
   

4. Continue mixing in your remaining flour until the dough starts to form a ball and pull away from the edges of the mixing bowl. If your dough is too sticky add some more flour a little at a time and mix, mix, mix!

   
   

5. Keep mixing until dough is like memory foam and bounces back when you touch it! You may need to hand knead it for a few minutes!

   
   

6. Place your dough in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm place and let it rise for about 4 hours or until your dough baby has doubled in size!

   
   

7. Prep a 12"x 17" sheet pan by pouring enough olive oil into the pan that the bottom is completely covered in a thin layer of olive oil.

   
   

8. Cover your hands in olive oil to prevent sticking and remove your dough baby from the bowl! Divide dough ball into two. Lay one ball into sheet pan and begin stretching dough. If dough doesn't stretch, let it rest in the sheet pan for 20 mins for the gluten to relax and try again.

   
   

9. Once you're done stretching the dough into your sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator over night to fully develop flavor.

   
   

10. When you're ready to bake your bread, remove from the refrigerator and let it warm for about 45 minutes.

    
    

11. With olive oiled fingers, poke dimples into your dough. Drizzle a fair amount of olive oil over your dough until all dimples have a little bit of olive oil in them. Sprinkle with salt.

    
    

12. Let dough rise another 30 mins in a warm place. Your canvas is complete!

    
    

    Time to decorate! Use fresh sliced herbs and veggies to create your own wonderful witchy work of art!

    
    

    When you're done decorating and its time to bake, give your masterpiece one final brushing of olive oil to prevent your herbs and veggies from burning!

    
    

    Bake in oven at 450°F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown!

You just made delicious Lammas art!

You can make two loaves or cut a slice from the one you make to leave on your altar as a Lammas offering!

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Make Sunflower Jelly

Another wonderful and delicious way to celebrate Lammas is to make your own Sunflower Jelly! Sunflowers are know for their ability to bring joy and sunshine wherever they go, but did you know they're good for you too?! Sunflowers originated in the Americas around 1,000 B.C., and were then cultivated as a valuable food source for centuries.

This recipe yields about four 8 oz. jelly jars.

Sunflower Jelly ingredients:

• 2 cups of Sunflower petals (also known as rays!)

• 2 1/2 cups of boiling water

• lemon zest

• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

• 4 cups sugar

• 1 box Sure-Jell

Instructions:

1. Place sunflower petals, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a bowl and cover with boiling water, cover bowl and steep for 1.5 hours.

2. Pour sunflower petal mixture and remaining lemon juice into a pot.

3. Stir the Sure-Jell into the mixture and bring to a full boil.

4. Stir in the sugar and return to a boil, stir well, return to full boil.

5. boil for one minute then remove from heat

6. divide liquid quickly into jars, wipe jar rim with wet cloth, place lids on jars tightly.

7. store in refrigerator for up to two weeks!

You just made sunflower jelly for Lammas! Serve on toast, on vanilla crisps with honey, or biscuits!

Feel free to download this video as a quick recipe reference to use later! 🌻

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Take a Nature Walk

Another great way to celebrate Lammas is to take a walk and appreciate nature, in it's current state and season. Appreciate the circle of life, the dead, the living, the blooming, the budding, the wilting, life is happening in all stages all around us at all times. Its the motion of our ocean, it's the buzzing of our bees, it's the Moon shining in the sky at night and the blowing of the leaves. Walk by yourself, with your family, with your dogs, whatever works best for you, just get out there and do it!

Bonus: Make it fun for the kids and create a scavenger hunt!

Find:

• 4 differently shaped leaves

• 3 cool rocks

• 2 beautiful flowers

• spot 4 animals

• spot 4 insects

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Cleanse your home

The warm summer months will soon come to an end, now is a good time to open up those windows and doors for a thorough cleansing! Go through your belongings and find what no longer serves you and DONATE it! Harvest your closet for someone else in need! Make room in your own life for the blessings and abundance to come! Prepare for the changing seasons soon to come, soak up the sun and let in all the fresh warm air while you can! While your doors & windows are open consider a smoke cleansing and rejuvenation ritual! Fill your home inside and out with good vibes!

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