Living in Season:
Usher in Autumn With Wheat Weaving
By Waverly Fitzgerald
A couple of years ago I was in Aberystwyth, Wales on Lammas, one of my favorite seasonal holidays that celebrates the first harvest of grain. In Anglo-Saxon England, people brought bread to the churches to be blessed on August 1, hence the name Lammas (loaf-Mass).
A few weeks earlier, I had gleaned some wheat stalks from a field, so I decided to make a wheat-weaving even though I didn't have any instructions with me. All I remembered was that I had to soak the wheat, which I did in a bathtub, releasing that wonderful nutty aroma from the stalks. Then I wove it into a simple plait, which I tied in a loop with a strand of orange yarn.
That primitive wheat weaving came back across the ocean to Seattle and for over a year sat above my stove -- my very own harvest spirit, blessing the food I prepared and ate while reminding me of my pilgrimage to the British Isles.
© Waverly Fitzgerald
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NFO contributing writer Waverly Fitzgerald is a freelance writer and teacher living in Seattle. View her website, School of the Seasons and read more about Waverly.
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