Lammas: Day 5

Another day of celebrating Lammas for us! And here's what we got up to...

All Among the Barley

My seasonal read for Lammas is All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison.

Bailey’s Wood Lammas Litter-Pick

We were out in the Lammas-y woods this morning for the monthly Friends of Bailey's Wood litter-pick.

Craft & Flea Market

We were at the market again this afternoon! This time it was the Craft & Flea at Manchester Cathedral. I'm very pleased with our second market haul of the week... spiced gin from Prestwich Gin, orange, lemon and raspberry vegan curd from The Kind Curd Co, hot sauce for my little bro from The Cole Men, plus new bee earrings from Violet Jewels! We also got sausage rolls, chocolate brownies and lemon meringue kronuts!

‘Harvest Home’

I caught up with my seasonal reading tonight, with the chapter 'Harvest Home' in Ronald Hutton's The Stations of the Sun. Sometimes I feel like folk horror is just an accurate record of things that have happened.

Lammas: Day 4

Catching up with another slightly last post tonight - here's what we got up to on our fourth day of Lammas celebrations (Friday).

Lammas Earrings

Friday's Lammas earrings were cinnamon swirls. Not quite bread, I know, but still reliant on the grain harvest.

Storytelling Session

I did a seasonal storytelling session with residents at Castlerea Care Home on Friday afternoon. We talked about harvest, hay and holidays, and about the sort of emotions and imagery that late summer evokes. Plus, we had Danish pastries and listened to The Kinks!

Children of the Corn

Lammas film night with Rob and a friend on Friday. We celebrated the grain harvest with Children of the Corn (1984)!

Cornflake Chocolate

And a little movie snack to go with Children of the Corn... Cornflakes Ritter Sport!

Lammas: Day 3

I'm a little bit late posting this, but here's our third day of Lammas celebrations (Thursday)!

Lammas Earrings

Thursday's seasonal earrings were citrus slices.

A Trip to Southport

I went on a day out to Southport with the residents of Castlerea Care Home on Thursday. It was a little bit drizzly but otherwise we had fun. Is Ferrero Rocher a traditional Lammas treat? Because I had a Ferrero Rocher ice cream!

Myst: Revelation

Not really a Lammas-specific thing, but me and my brother are replaying all the Myst games, and we got together for a game night on Thursday. We were really hoping we get through the end of Revelation, because it's been a bit of a slog. We did not get to the end.

More Lammas Earrings

I'm still not sure if Ferrero Rocher counts as a Lammas treat, but I switched to my new Ferrero Rocher earrings for the evening anyway.

Cornflake Pie

Our Myst replay drove us insane, so we're cheered ourselves up with a Lammas treat. As Lammas is a celebration of the first cereal harvest, we're having a cornflake pie from Bury Market.

Lammas: Day 2

It's the second day of our Lammas celebrations! I had a lot of work commitments in the afternoon, so it was just morning stuff today.

Bury Market

Lammas is a time to enjoy fairs and markets apparently, so we took my mother-in-law to the market this morning. Not to sell her, I hasten to add! It wasn't a Mayor of Casterbridge situation! We had a Lammas trip to (World Famous) Bury Market today, and I am very pleased with my market haul!

Lammas Earrings

In honour of our trip to Bury Market, today's Lammas earrings were upcycled L.S. Lowry prints... Market Scene, Northern Town.

Sweetcorn Fritters

I got some sweetcorn fritters on the market too. I thought this seemed like an appropriately seasonal snack, and they were so nice as well!

Lammas: Day 1

It's time for Lammas, the fifth event in our Year of Celebrating the Seasons, and I've been reliably informed this one is all about bread and markets. As is now our wont, we've got a week of festive things planned for the season.

Lammas Earrings

I think my collection of Lammas-inspired earrings is my favourite set yet. Today... crumpets!

Tea and Toast Tea

I do like a seasonal tea (as you might have spotted this year). It was a bit difficult finding bread-favoured teas for our Lammas week, but this seemed close enough... Tea and Toast by Bird & Blend Tea Company. It tastes like raspberry jam!

‘First Fruits’

And I started off our Lammas week seriously with a chapter from Ronald Hutton's The Stations of the Sun: 'First Fruits'.

Lammas Candle

We lit our Lammas/Lughnasadh from Chalice Creations tonight for the first time. It's lavender, patchouli and lemon. (Ironically I lit it shortly after reading Ronald Hutton on why Lughnasadh and Lammas probably aren't interchangeable.)

A Year of Celebrating the Seasons

This post is about our New Year's Resolution for 2022. After last year's 31 Days of Halloween and a very festive countdown to Christmas, Rob and I have decided we've nailed those two celebrations. The problem is, it's a long time to wait between Christmas and Halloween so New Year can often seem a bit flat after all the festive fun. Additionally - and I'm not sure if this is a result of the pandemic or if it had been creeping in before then - we've both been feeling weird about the way time is passing. Sometimes it feels like it's whizzing by, but then a single day can feel like it lasts for years (and not always in a good way). So, in an effort both to keep the festive feeling all year round and to feel a bit more comfortable and in control of the passage of time, we've decided to celebrate seasonally this year. Since we already celebrate a quarter day (Christmas/Yule) and a cross-quarter day (Halloween/Samhain), we thought we might as well celebrate the other six seasonal markers.

Neither of us are religious, and our Christmas and Halloween celebrations are always a mish-mash of traditions, including a few we've invented ourselves. Our plan is to celebrate the other seasons in the same way. We've planned a week for each, except Halloween and Christmas (which both get a month, because they're the best ones). Mostly, our celebrations are likely to be seasonal earrings, going for walks and watching films, but we're hoping to come up with some other new traditions along the way! (Any interesting suggestions would gratefully received!)

Since a lot of the seasonal celebrations are muddled together versions of Christian festivals, astronomical phenomena, neo-paganism and other traditions, the first thing we had to do was decide what to call our festivities. We've basically decided just to go with the names we're most familiar with, even though that's a bit of a pick-and-mix: Imbolc, Vernal Equinox, Beltane, Midsummer, Lammas, Autumnal Equinox, Halloween and Christmas.