Celebrate Lammas with Bread Magic

When Lammas, or Lughnasadh, rolls around, many modern Pagans celebrate the harvest of the grain crops. This is nothing new – for our ancestors, the grain harvest was a cause for great celebration. A successful harvest meant families would be able to bake and store bread through the winter – and that could mean the difference between life and death for many. The word “Lammas” comes from the Old English phrase hlaf-maesse, which translates to “loaf mass.” Today, it’s not uncommon to find a celebration of bread at a Pagan festival during the Lammas season.

There are a number of different ways that bread itself can be incorporated into a ritual or magical setting. Let’s look at some of the magical folklore surrounding bread in different cultures and societies.

Bread and the Divine

Grain has held a place of importance in civilization back nearly to the beginning of time. Grain became associated with the cycle of death and rebirth. The Sumerian god Tammuz was slain and his lover Ishtar grieved so heartily that nature stopped producing. Ishtar mourned Tammuz, and followed him to the Underworld to bring him back, similar to the story of Demeter and Persephone.

In Greek legend, the grain god was Adonis. Two goddesses, Aphrodite and Persephone, battled for his love. To end the fighting, Zeus ordered Adonis to spend six months with Persephone in the Underworld, and the rest with Aphrodite.

Spirits of the Grain

In European cultures, a corn doll was often used to represent the spirit of the harvested crops. However, Europe didn’t have a monopoly on this at all.

In South American countries, some tribes took the largest portion of the crops — typically maize — and dressed it in clothing as an effigy.

Folklorist Sir James Frazer makes mention in The Golden Bough of the global phenomenon of the honoring of the spirit of the grain. He says that the mere fact that underdeveloped, primitive cultures honor a “corn mother” archetype indicates that this has been going on for thousands of years. In other words, because these cultures are “unspoiled” by modern society, their worship of such an embodiment of the grain is probably very close to the original ritual and ceremony.

The Final Sheaf

In many societies, the cutting of the final sheaf of grain was indeed cause for celebration. People celebrated by making corn dolls, which represented the spirit of the grain. Sometimes these dolls were full-sized, made of the last stalks of corn to be harvested, and decorated with ribbons, streamers and even articles of clothing.

Bread Magic and Superstitions

• In Yorkshire, it was believed that if a loaf of bread failed to rise, it meant there was an undiscovered corpse nearby.
• One English tradition revolves around hot cross buns. If you bake yours on Good Friday, they will not spoil or grow mold. Another custom says that sailors should take a hot cross buns on their travels to prevent shipwreck. The cross on the bun comes from a superstition that marking the bun so would prevent the Devil from getting into the baked goods.
• In parts of Appalachia, it’s important to watch when you slice a loaf of bread for the first time — if you slice through a hole in the bread, it means someone is going to die. It is also well-known that if you put a slice of bread into a cradle, it will protect the infant from disease.
• For many cultures, the breaking of bread is symbolic of peace and hospitality. Once you have welcomed someone into your home and you have eaten bread together, you’re far less likely to kill one another.
• In parts of Norway, boys and girls who share bread from the same loaf are destined to fall in love and marry.

But What About Gluten??

Bread is great – it’s filling and delicious, and goes with just about everything. Baking it and eating it are part of the Lammas theme. But what if you can’t eat gluten? If you’re on a gluten-free diet, like me, any bread made from what flour is off-limits. So, how do you celebrate and keep the spirit of the sabbat alive, without making yourself too sick to function? The good news is that you have a lot of non-wheat options for bread, and a lot of them are pretty tasty – and trust me, I am a well-fed woman, despite battling celiac since about 2007. If you’re looking to make things quick and buy bread already made, my favorite is the Live G Free White Bread from Aldi.

Homemade gluten-free breads can be pretty delicious. While they make a little more time to make than regular breads, because of the sheer number of ingredients, it’s worth the time and energy to create something that tastes amazing – and that your not-gluten-free friends will enjoy as well. There are some great sandwich bread mixes available, which I’ll share below, as well as some amazingly tasty recipes you can make from scratch.

Bake Your Own Bread

Here are my two favorite gluten-free sandwich bread mixes – I’ve been gluten free since 2007, so I’ve had plenty of time to sample them. You can find these at just about any grocery store that carries gluten-free products:

1. Pamela’s Gluten Free Bread Mix: Bakes up nice and fluffy, great for sandwiches or snacks. If you’re not going to eat the entire loaf at once, slice it up and freeze it for later.

2. Bob’s Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix: The name doesn’t lie – this bread mix is tasty. It also works as a nice base, if you want to add in other goodies like garlic or herbs.

Want to bake bread from scratch? Cool! Teri Gruss, MS, About.com’s Gluten Free Cooking Expert has a great recipe here, New Gluten Free Bread Recipe: it’s light and springy, perfect for sandwiches, toast, or anything else you can think of. If you’re a fan of working Smarter Not Harder, like me, my absolute favorite go-to bread recipe is this easy-peasy Peasant Bread from Feed Me Phoebe – her recipe calls for dividing the dough into two separate pans, but I put mine in a single large stoneware bowl, and get this giant round loaf that impresses everyone who sees (and eats) it.

Going Totally Grain-Free

Now, what if you’re someone who’s on a completely grain-free diet? You’re probably looking at the list above and thinking, Thanks for nothing, I can’t eat ANY of those.

No worries, grain-free friends. You still have options too. There are plenty of great non-grain bread recipes out there. One of my favorite websites is Paleogrubs, where they have a ton of recipes for breads that have no grains in them: 21 Paleo Breads with No Wheat or Grain Whatsoever.

Finally, let’s not forget another important aspect of Lammas – it’s a harvest celebration, which means there are a lot of amazing things in your gardens and your local farmers’ fields that you can eat. Think about ways to incorporate seasonal vegetables into your Lammas celebration. Potatoes, squash and beans are all ready to be picked when Lammas rolls around, so figure out which of them you love the most, and make yourself something delicious to celebrate the bounty of the fields.

Be sure to read our article about Celebrating Ritual with Food Allergies, for some more insight on how to manage being in a group setting when there’s a food you can’t eat.