The days are still warm, but something is beginning to change. The sun sits lower in the sky, the mornings are cooler, the evenings are drawing in, and autumn is beginning to beckon.
Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest season. Traditionally, it was connected with the first grain harvest and the baking of the first loaf. The Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh falls at the same time of year and also marks the beginning of harvest, with gatherings, feasting and celebrations of skill and craft.
Much is still growing and ripening. Lammas sits at the threshold, when the first signs of the harvest begin to appear.
At harvest time, we gather what is ready and ripe.
Some things have grown well. Others may have taken a different direction from the one we imagined. Some are still not ready and need longer.
The same can be true in our own lives.
You may notice something that has quietly developed over the past months. A change in how you feel, a decision becoming clearer, something creative beginning to take form, or a relationship shifting.
There may also be something you hoped would be further along by now.
Nature does not follow our plans or our preferred timescale. Fruit ripens when the conditions are right. Some seeds flourish, some struggle, and some appear where we did not expect them.
Perhaps something you have been tending is beginning to show itself. Something else may still need time, or may have grown quite differently from the way you expected.
Taking stock
The first harvest offers a moment to pause and take in what has grown from the things we have tended. It may be something visible and practical, or a change known only to us.
A harvest can be mixed. Some things may have grown well, while others have not unfolded as we hoped. In taking stock, we may also recognise something we would do differently next time. The seasons remind us that not everything is abundant, easy or within our control.
Marking Lammas
You could prepare a meal with seasonal food, bake bread, gather something from the garden, or take a walk and notice the first signs of autumn.
Or simply pause for a while and look back over the year so far. Notice what has changed and what still needs time.
Lammas reminds us that summer has not ended, but autumn is already beckoning.
