I’m from the Midwest, where corn is king. If you live in there or pay attention to the news, you probably know that the harvest is looking a little bleak this year. And what about when you don’t have a garden? Or when that project falls through? Or you lose a job at the wrong time?
What do you do when there is nothing to harvest?
There are tons of posts about Lammas/Lughnasadh right now; posts full of bread recipes, stories about Lugh, lists of correspondences, ritual ideas. And they are all mostly great, don’t get me wrong! But no one hardly ever writes about what you are supposed to celebrate when the reason for the season just isn’t present in your life. Especially when its the start of the harvest season…
So, what do you do when you have nothing to harvest in your life? Or when you have no really tangible connection to the seasonal harvest? Do you celebrate anyway? Or do you skip a turn and hope for better luck next time?
I really don’t know the answer to these questions. Especially when it comes to this holiday. I’ve never felt all that much kinship for it, in comparison to other holidays. I mean, I don’t worship the Celtic pantheon, and it sort of feels like a day that was just tucked in there to make an even Wheel of the Year.
These past few years have been difficult for many families, not just my own. And while I do have a bit of a harvest (of the non-garden type) to celebrate this year, when I couldn’t think of anything to write that wouldn’t be too much of a repeat of what others have written, I ended up thinking about words as a type of harvest–writing as the reaping of thoughts…which lead to thinking about having nothing to write again, and therefore nothing to harvest. Is it more important to celebrate in hard times, or is it harder to celebrate?
Or maybe its both.
Maybe we need to find our harvest, even if we have to make it ourselves, from our own blood, sweat and tears. Maybe we just need to find our harvest and celebrate the crap out of it, even if we’re not sure we have the energy, or the money, or the time. Maybe we need to find our harvest, whether it be in our life, or from the earth, or from something else, to remind us that there is still a harvest, even when it seems otherwise.
EDITED TO ADD: I finally got to check out my feed, and I have to say that, after substituting a few things, this sums up my feelings on the matter nicely.
August 1st, 2012 at 9:15 pm
For me this is a time to harvest the things in your life. But also to begin to prepare for the more quiet months ahead. As we head into the waning half of the year, the energy changes to more introspective and restful, especially after we finish the harvests.
So I always look ahead to the next year and spend the next few months trying to plan for them.
Just my two cents. Great article!
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:53 am
Thanks!
And I agree, about the soon-to-be change in the year, Its interesting that you use this time to plan for the year a head, that’s what I do between Samhain and Yule. I’ve always celebrated the seasons with the year and with my envirionment…and the beach doesn’t really have a Lammas–its been a change from living in places where we saw farming and experienced that aspect of the land on a regular basis. Even when we’ve lived here before, we were closer to the inland areas, where gardens and farms weren’t all that far away.
August 2nd, 2012 at 8:01 am
I’ve never really felt a connection to Lughnasad–it has little to do with my pantheon or my spirituality. And yes, there has been a bit of a drought in the US, so harvest is suffering. What I do for this holiday is still celebrate the Sabbat, but I generally celebrate Wep Ronpet (the Egyptian New Year) instead, even though during this age the holiday falls towards the end of August. I just kind of combine traditions to create a time for celebration on August first.
Blessings!
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:56 am
That’s a cool idea! Figuring out a way to celebrate Lughnasadh has been a project of mine for awhile…too bad I’m not Egyptian!
…maybe I should look at the Greek ritual calendar.
…or maybe I’ll just invent my own substitution!
August 2nd, 2012 at 1:13 pm
I never really “celebrated” this holiday until it dawned on me today that I do celebrate it by being exicted to see the seasons change. This year I don’t have much to harvest either – no job even after months of looking for work, no school, no real “work” no garden (even if I had one it’s rained twice in the past month so….) But, I feel like without the physical I have something more spiritual to harvest, like it’s been a hard year for me but I am learning things from it and most of all, I can see how far I’ve come in believing in myself or something. So… I don’t know if that qualifies as “making” something to harvest or not.
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:58 am
I think so…I think sometimes we need to find what to harvest in our lives. Of course, I also think that sometimes we need to suck it up and harvest the bad stuff that we’ve planted as well.
August 2nd, 2012 at 6:18 pm
I didn’t know about this holiday until I read about it here! But I would say that if I did celebrate it and in a time of drought and hardship I would give. I mean that during times of drought we’ve gone out to farms and created a sense of community support (that you don’t get from enmasse consumers) by having tea parties, silly days at the local hall, doing in-home spas for tired farmer’s wives….basically giving them something (other than a failing harvest) to feel thankful for. It is hard living on the land and quite often I think the celebration of harvest is more about sticking together and being glad for each other’s unfailing support. When you have nothing else to give you still have boundless love to offer
August 3rd, 2012 at 5:57 am
I like this, so much!
August 4th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
hey thalassa, enjoyed this – and the link to spiritual zuchinni. i think you are right, it is both: more important to celebrate and harder to celebrate when it seems there is nothing to harvest. it forces us to look deeper for the things we can reap. I like the idea of harvesting words as well. we always have them, don’t we? and something about them is oh so rewarding! as for the zuchinni article and harvesting frustration: yes, i suppose we have all been there. I have definately felt that the more true i am to myself, the less i fit in. Sometimes this can feel really isolating, but i also think everyone would feel that way if they really followed their impulses, right? i don’t know if that’s consolation, just observation!
August 5th, 2012 at 8:18 am
I think you are right on being true to one’s self…I just think that at the same time (and I’m saying this as a close observer to someone that is currently reaping a bad harvest from some exceedingly poor choices) that we owe it to ourselves to be introspective enough to look honestly at lives and figure out what we need to fix to be productive people. I mean, if one’s true self is lazy and looking for a meal ticket through life, well…lol!
August 6th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
oh dear. so true!