Lammas: the Preamble
There is already a photograph of this mask elsewhere on the site, but it was taken under very bad lighting conditions. This is a better one. It should really be on a red background (see the passage below) but a piece of black velvet was what came to hand.
We are now more than half way through the ritual year, and have arrived at the section in the Handbook that describes Lammas:
Preamble
At present Lammas is one of the more obscure festivals, particularly in Southern England where its significance is lost and its memory obscured. There are two strands to its story. One commemorates the last of the Lord of the Waxing year, whose spirit is considered to linger in the land of Summer until Lammastide and the beginning of Autumn; and it is therefore a wake for His Midsummer death. We note that as at the Spring Equinox Robin was chosen but did not consummate his love till May Day; so though chosen at Midsummer, Arthur does not fully enter into His own till Lammas. The other strand is the story of the Goddess, who journeys to the Land of the Shades where the Lord of the Waning Year reigns. By Her journey, and, in a sense, Her own sacrifice She takes up Her own reign as Queen of Shades and Darkness.
Lammas is the end of Summer. The period between it and the Hallows marks the going to rest of the Earth and it is so typified in our story with the Goddess Herself going to the dark land, where She will rule below as She does above. Her colour is red, the colour of life, for as we shall see She takes with Her life into the land of death.
