First day of August, turn, turn, turn. Grandmother F was not concerned with such, but Grandmother W had a feel for the changing of the seasons, the days shortening, the small patch of corn ready to harvest, the figs bursting with flavor, the little peach tree laden with fruit.
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| All Food Photography shown on this post? From Google Images! |
She learned it from her own grandmother who learned it from hers, although Scotland and the harvest festival had been left far behind, even then.
Today is Lughnasadh: fresh baked bread, fruity wine, flounder, and hushpuppies served on that faded green tablecloth made of the Buchanan Ancient tartan. She had other (six) clans with livelier choices for holidays. Who knew how she thought?
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| Buchanan Ancient, for celebrations of all kinds. (From Electric Scotland) |
Grandmother realized that she was celebrating a rather pagan holiday, but she thought it worked both ways. The Celts borrowed the feast from others, more ancient than themselves, and gave it up to Christianity, when the time was right, when it began to be called the Bread Mass, or Feast. The Feast of the Assumption and the opening day of the Scarborough Fair, she knew, were only weeks away. What's not to celebrate?
Here is a beautiful performance of the Simon and Garfunkel masterpiece: Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
