Lammas Sky

Lammas sky refers to the atmosphere and celestial events surrounding the festival of Lammas which marks the first grain harvest on  1st August in the Northern Hemisphere.  It is characterized by the twilight of summer featuring high summer heat and the begining of the Sun's slow descent as days start to shorten. 

The sky often displays golden yellow, orange and amber light reflecting the ripening wheat fields. The atmosphere is hazy with the scent of dust and hay, and shadows stretching longer across the hills as the light grows softer. It is a threshold between the fire of summer and the cooling of Autumn. 

This time is highlighted by the presence of Spica, the star of abundance and Arcturus, the bright star. 

It is an occasion to perform rituals of gratitude for the harvest. Lammas may also bring heavy and unpredictable rain causing flood, and becomes a distress for harvest.

The rituals include setting up of harvest altars decorated with sunflowers and wheat sheaves and corns. All these rituals are of localised nature. 

The history of Lammas shows it a blending of different beliefs and cultures into a unified identity. It has Gaelic roots, a festival honouring the God Lugh and his foster mother Tailtiu. The Church rebranded it as Loaf Mass, by replacing the ancient Celtic rituals with priest blessed bread. 

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