The harvest festival and the season of abundance

After the peak of summer and while we are still wrapped in its heat, the harvest festival, or festival of breads, arrives in the wheel of the year.

This festival corresponds to the season of the first harvest of the year, when the grain is cut and the bread-making cycle begins, and it is celebrated on August 1st. 

The occasion is also called Lunasa, Lughnasadh or Lammas.

The wheat harvest is an important time because it tells us what the state of things is, and gives predictions for the rest of the year.

The earth, as well as our soul, is ready to give us all that it has nourished and cultivated. 

We can harvest all that we need to sustain us in the coming months of the year. 

This is also an important time in terms of the birth and death cycle of the seed.

We are at the peak of fertility, just before we begin the process of slow decline.

The kernel is set aside to be sown in the next harvest.

It is the season of maturity. 

In women’s lives, the harvest festival corresponds to the mother’s season. 

Festivals to celebrate the harvest season

The harvest festival has remained in the various village festivals that occur on different dates in late summer. 

The dates vary depending on the most important harvest being made in each place. 

Sometimes they coincide with the local Catholic patron saint.

They are festivals of thanksgiving, for bread or other fruits of the earth.

It is one of the most popular festivals in which everyone participates.

The merriment is palpable, amid banquets, games and music.

The rituals of this festival are aimed at ensuring an abundant harvest even in the coming cold months.

Celebrating abundance also in our lives

In this season, the earth rests and we also take a break after working hard. 

We reflect on the progress of the year, to realize the work we have done so far on the earth and ourselves.

We observe the first harvest of what we have sown and welcome the results with gratitude.

We celebrate abundance and prosperity around us.

When we reap the fruits of the earth we are in communion with the whole. 

We are connected to the whole of nature; we are one.

We are in balance; the harvest nourishes us in both the physical and emotional parts.

During the harvest we pay attention to what the earth needs. 

Mother Earth shows us what we need to plant in the earth and in our soul.

Harvest and results

In this season we celebrate all that we have achieved. 

What failed to grow, however, we release it without pain or regret. 

We give it back to the earth as food. 

And to ourselves as a useful experience for our own growth.

We are careful about what we harvest because not everything is ready at the same time. 

There is still time to reap what we have sown in the coming harvests.