Lammas, or Lughnasadh,  is one of the most important Pagan Sabbats, midway between Beltane and Samhain.  Here are some ideas for two Lammas rituals you might want to try if you have no other gathering to attend.  Even if you do, perhaps they’ll give you some ideas.

The old Celtic day, like that of the Jews, started and ended
at sunset.  On Lammas bonfires were
often lit, and merriment in the fields echoed the merriment of Beltane.  Of you are fortunate enough to live
where it is possible (alas, I currently am not) Lammas night is a time for a
bonfire, a big one if possible. 
Celebrate the time of abundant harvest, both in the earth and in our
lives. Now that I am in my 60s, this time of life takes on special meaning for
me.  It symbolizes where men and
women of my age tend to be in their personal life cycle.

What do we do at this bonfire?  Celebrate.  Play
music.  Dance.  And it is very appropriate to take heed
of Robert Burns’ poem, It was upon a Lammas Night:

Corn rigs an’ barley rigs,
     An’ corn rigs are bonie,
I’ll ne’er forget that happy night,
     Amang the rigs wi’ Annie.

The next day is a time to honor the season more formally,
followed by a barbecue or other feast. 

The colors of Lammas are the colors of life, the harvest,
blood, and the sun.  Yellow,
Orange, Green, and Red.  Flowers
and candles on your altar and candles should be predominately or entirely of
these colors, or alternatively, of wild flowers that grow on their own cycles,
such a Queen Anne’s Lace here in Sonoma County. 

Have four special candles that, together, symbolize the
Wheel of the Year.  At  Midsummer all were lit.  Now, at Lammas, three are lit. The
harvest is begun, the light is strong, but is now waning.  The year and symbolically, life itself, is
past its mid-point.  But its
vitality and creativity are still high, perhaps at their highest, a product of the preceding days of
cultivation and growth. 

If you have a garden, placing some of the fruits of your
harvest on or around the altar is appropriate. If you have other harvests from your life, whatever they may be, placing them or symbols for them on and around the altar is also fitting.  While this Sabbat is timed in accord with Celtic agricutural cycles, all of life fits into the Wheel of the Year.

While Lammas is one of our most joyful Sabbats, remember that every harvest is also a farewell.  The yin and yang of life are always
intertwined.  What you have
harvested has now come from possibility to actuality and now is entering the
past.  What you will harvest is of
the same nature, only at different point along the trajectory.  Every harvest is an achievement, a
gift, and also a death in the service of life.  In a way that seems good to you, honor all these dimensions.

As befits those who have received gifts, give thanks to the
Goddess and God, or however you relate to the sacred as it manifests in and
through life.  Put some of the food
for your feast in a bowl to leave outside or pour upon the ground, as an
offering in return.

And think about what you have harvested in your life, and
what you can return to the process, that it may continue onwards, always and
forever.

Enjoy the feast that follows.  The sacrifices of harvest are worth it!  While the bitter in the bitter sweet should be remembered, even more, it is SWEET.  You can do this alone, but I hope you don’t.  Life was not meant for its major sacred
occasions to be celebrated alone.

This ritual framework fit the spirit of Lammas as it speaks
to me.  There are other dimensions,
for the symbolism of this time is complex and multifacteted.  This is hardly the only way to honor
the time.  But tomorrow friends and
I will gather for our ritual and the feast that follows.  I wish you well should you have a
similar opportunity this weekend