The last day of July is Lammas Eve with tomorrow, August 1 being Lammas Day (loaf-mass day).
The word 'Lammas' is derived from 'loaf mass' and is indicative of how central and honored is the first grain and the first loaf of the harvesting cycle.
We are now at high summer with the union of the sun and earth, of
the god and goddess having produced the first harvest.
It
is a time for gathering in as well as giving thanks for abundance.
The first part of this poem is a dream, the second the fulfillment in an abundant harvest. We tend to associate harvest with autumn, but from ancient times, the harvest of the first fruits was around the start of the month of August
Lammas Eve
On
Lammas Eve, I was strangely tired,
And came deep sleep, and so
inspired:
In the field tying up sheaves of wheat,
In a
dream, so vivid and so very sweet;
One sheaf arose and stood up
straight,
Others circle round, as if one great;
And sheaves
bent down, as if to bow,
And what it meant, I know not now;
In
a circle dance, of times long past,
We may find our meaning at
long last;
With the Quern stone wheat is ground
And stone we circle round and round
And the seasons passing, till this one
First fruits harvesting of the sun
Now much of
earth is parched and dry:
We pray for first fruits, hear our cry
The first harvest,
the crop of wheat,
In August prime, where merry meet;
Gathering
the barley, wheat and grain,
Beneath the sun, and ripe from
rain;
The wheat ripens full to harvest days:
As in ripe old
age, last sunset blaze;
Valleys full of wheat, the fields
white,
Shout, sing for joy, at such a sight!
Pick the
wheat, and leave the weed,
And take and eat, in time of
need;
And seek out peace, an end to strife,
It is Lammas
Eve, and bread of life;
Tomorrow will be a time to feast,
And
harvest joy will rise like yeast.
