Calendar of the Moon
8 Huath/Thargelion
Thargelia Day II: Festival of the First Fruits
Color: Green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a green cloth lay five stones of different colors, an urn of white wine, and a basket
of the first produce of the year.
Offerings: The first fruits from the garden, some of which should be shared with outsiders.
Daily Meal: Vegan. Barley. Figs. Dates.
Demeter's Thargelia Invocation
The road to which our feet are set
Is in a harvest way,
For to the fair-robed Demeter
Our comrades bring today
The first fruits of their harvesting
She on the threshing place
Great store of barley grain outpoured
For guardian of Her Grace.
O great earth-bound Demeter
Whose daughter is the spring,
Whose hands bring forth the golden grain,
These gifts to you we bring:
Our hands, our hearts, our bellies
Once empty and now filled,
The greening of the garden,
The flour of the mill,
We thank you for our sustenance
The bounty of field and hill,
Your touch upon the barren land
Will make it more fertile still.
Chant:
Demeter Demeter Mother of the Grain
Fruit of the Harvest come with the rain
(The produce is brought forward to the altar and laid in baskets, one at a time, kneeling.
Afterwards it is shared with others brought in from outside, for generosity begets abundance.
The wine is poured out as a libation for Demeter.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]