lammas

Lammas 2025

~ Ashley ~ 10 Comments
Red Admiral on Buddleia


Butterflies,
Flitting from flower to flower;
Peace.

 

The end of July and the beginning of August, is the traditional festival of Lammas, a time of abundance and in the pagan calendar, seen as the beginning of autumn.  There are so many flowers in our tiny garden but this Buddleia, a dwarf variety, is a favourite.  Known as the butterfly bush or shrub, we can see why it is so called. I didn’t manage to capture on camera the other butterflies in the garden but I am working on a further linked post with some artwork which I shall publish shortly. 🤞🤞

Ashley

Lammas

~ Ashley ~ 54 Comments

white-tail-bumblebee

Small Tortoiseshell - Aglais urticae on Verbena

On every flower,
A butterfly, a bee;
Summer's bounty.

Goodness!  It’s the beginning of August already and isn’t the cycle of life amazing?  All Earth’s creatures are aware of the changes in the season.

Lammas;
Gathering grain for winter,
Seeds for sowing next year.

Lammas, the Saxon name for this time of year, meaning “Loaf-mass”, or as it is called in Irish Gaelic Lughnasadh, is a celebration of the rich harvest that is beginning across these islands.  Whilst the harvest occurs people still make corn dollies or rattles and healing wands but for me I continue to whittle Ogham sticks when I find the right wood. Here are my latest: Hazel and Gorse.

hazel & gorse lammas

Hazel (Corylus avellana) is the ninth tree in the Celtic Tree Ogham.  Its straight coppiced poles have been used in many ways by humans for thousands of years.  It’s been a good companion to humanity and with that in mind I hope to make a walking stick with that extra long piece I was given.

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is the seventeenth wood in the Ogham.  Not actually a tree, it is found mostly on moorland and rough ground where its flowers can be seen throughout the year.  It is also known as Whin or Furze.

Ashley