Calendar of the Sun
31 Haymonath

Oiche Lughnasadh: Lammas Eve

Colors: Golden and purple
Element: Earth
Altar: The golden and purple cloth is laid for the Lammas altar, and a single purple candle is lit in the center, but nothing else is in place. This is a time of waiting.
Offering: Promise to work for the harvest.
Daily Meal: Fasting, till nightfall. The great feast will come on the next day.

Lammas Eve Invocation

Imagine.....
That you fly through the air on the back of a crow
Fly back in time
See all our ancestors
Reaping the harvest
Reaping the grain
That will be their daily bread
Reaping the life
From the breast of the Earth
Who feeds us forever.
Imagine
That you fly high in the air
Watching the fields stripped
Like a man combs his hair
Like the scythe reaps the row
Like the wings of the crow
Like golden Lugh shining bright
Like the wind bears your flight
Like the Sun that blinds your sight....
Imagine.
(Each approaches the altar and lays down an empty basket, which will be filled tomorrow.)
Summer is the season for cultivation and caring.
Flowers come forth, later to give way to fruit.
Now is the time for us to review all things -
That which is to remain, and that which must
Be pruned away, for the sake of growth.
Growth in all things; in the seeds of the Earth
And in ourselves.

Chant: We look forth to the grain,
We look back to the grave.

[Pagan Book of Hours]