Category Archives: Days and Seasons

Dormition

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Fra Angelico painted this depiction of the Dormition of the Virgin in 1431-2.

Fra Angelico painted this depiction of the Dormition of the Virgin in 1431-2.

The Dormition of the Mother of God, commonly called the “Assumption” by Western Christians, celebrates the falling-asleep of the Mother of God on August 15 and her translation into glory at the right hand of her Son. This deathbed scene is often depicted in Orthodox icons and medieval Western paintings (such as Fra Angelico’s seen above) with Mary dying as the apostles surround her deathbed and Jesus gathers her soul into His arms like a new-born child (similar to the way He is depicted in swaddling bands at Christmas). It has been said in at least a few sermons that, “If Christmas is God’s birthday into humanity, then Dormition is Humanity’s birthday into divinity.”

As part of the Dormition celebration, flowers and fragrant herbs are brought into the church to be blessed. This aspect of Dormition celebrates the harvest going on in the fields outside the churches and the “harvest” of each human life on their deathbed. This harvest and gathering into glory of each human life to await the End Times or Last Judgment gives the practical duties of farmyard duties a very apocalyptic or eschatological flavor. (Apocalypse and eschatology relate to “End Times” and “Last Things.”) This human harvest is celebrated again at the end of the farmyard harvest season with Halloween and the Day of the Dead in November.

The flowers and herbs blessed on August 15 are thought to disperse devils by their fragrant scent and to keep devils from tripping the soul of a dying person if they are placed around the deathbed.

Lammas Day

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Bread made of the flour from newly-harvested wheat would be brought to church on Lammas Day to mark the beginning of autumn.

Bread made of the flour from newly-harvested wheat would be brought to church on Lammas Day to mark the beginning of autumn.

Lammas Day (August 1) is the traditional day to mark the beginning of autumn. Who wants to think about autumn before Labor Day?! But the back-to-school sales have started, so maybe… The wheat harvest begins at this time and the loaves baked with the newly-harvested wheat would be brought into church to be blessed. Hence, “Loaf-Mass Day” or Lammas Day. It also might be the more sedate, English version of the Irish-Scotch celebration of Lughnasadh.

In medieval times the feast was sometimes known in England and Scotland as the “Gule of August” but the meaning of “gule” is unclear. Some think “Gule” is derived from Gŵyl Awst, the Welsh name of the “feast of August”. Others think “Gule” is derived from “gullet” or “throat” and is associated with chewing/swallowing the blessed bread or other newly harvested food.

Some also think “Lammas” is derived from “Lamb-Mass” at which the new sheep would be blessed and then shorn for the first time. Or that a lamb would be let loose in the fields for one of the field-workers to catch, making a game out of the work. The winner field hand would bring the lamb he caught into church to be blessed. (The lamb associations with Lammas seem especially strong near York in the north of England.)

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1.3.19) it is observed of Juliet, “Come Lammas Eve at night shall she [Juliet] be fourteen.” Since Juliet was born on Lammas eve, she came before the harvest festival, which is significant since her life ended before she could reap what she had sown and enjoy the bounty of the harvest, in this case full consummation and enjoyment of her love with Romeo.

See a previous post about Lammas here.

Lughnasadh

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It was customary to harvest blueberries and bake blueberry pies at Lughnasadh festivities.

It was customary to harvest blueberries and bake blueberry pies at Lughnasadh festivities.

Lughnasadh (pronounced “Lúnasa”) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Originally it was held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. Lughnasadh is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals; along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. It corresponds to other European harvest festivals such as the Welsh Gwyl Awst and the English Lammas.

In Irish mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh as a funeral feast and athletic competition in commemoration of his mother who was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Lugh’s mother may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind. These funeral games in her honor were similar to the ancient Olympic Games and included ritual athletic and sporting contests. The event also involved trading, the drawing-up of contracts, and matchmaking that included trial marriages (young couples joined hands through a hole in a wooden door). The trial marriage lasted a year and a day, at which time the marriage could be made permanent or broken without consequences.

Ancient customs associated with Lughnasadh seem to have also included offerings of newly-harvested corn, the sacrifice of a bull and certain rites with its hide as well as a banquet of the meat roasted.

Another custom that Lughnasadh shared with Imbolc and Beltane was visiting holy wells. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well. They would also leave offerings (often coins).