2013 Lammas Renga

Four of us met at our house and held a Lammas renga. 

Culturally, the Celts called this cross quarter day "Lughnasadh," celebrating the beginning of harvest and of agricultural market festivals--the origins of our fairs. 

The best that I can tell there were two ways of viewing this season:

• For ancient Celts there were only two seasons (summer and winter), and this cross quarter day marked midsummer.

• Latter Europeans  considered June 21 to be mid summer; in their system Lammas marked the beginning of autumn.

Either way, summer is waning after Lammas, and the signs are there for poets to latch onto.  The next seasonal landmark day will be September 22 this year, in Nebraska:the official beginning of autumn, followed by Halloween. In the past there has often been at least one small snowfall before Halloween, although with the changes in climate, all the climatic and biological, natural phenomena might occur two week latter! 

It was a nice day to sit inside and write poetry. All went well.

Participants were (in sequence): 

• • Larry Reznicek

• Mark Fairchild

• Sarah Fairchild

  • Charlene Neeley

The resulting renga was 16 stanzas long and focused entirely on changes in nature that indicate autumn is on the way. 

The announcement was for this renga read:

2013 Lammas Renga

We are trying something new. Instead of holding the renga near a solstice or equinox, we will hold it near a cross-quarter day (the days halfway in between solstices and equinoxes.) This time it  will be the Lammas Renga (roughly half way between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox.) 

Why the change? Because there are more major holidays around equinoxes and solstices than around the cross-quarter days. Theoretically it ought to make for less conflicts, while maintaining the seasonal character of the rengas.

Where: Mark & Sarah Fairchild's house, 2236 “A” Street, Lincoln, NE. (See map below.) Why? Air conditioning (and I have to make a decision!) If it is beautiful out we might move it outside to the back yard.

When: Sunday, August 4th 2013 at 2 PM.

FYI: August 1 is date of the traditional start of the harvest season, all over the northern hemisphere. Also known as Lughnasadh, the Celtic Festival of Lugh, who was (among many other things) the Celtic God of poetry. The Christian celebration is called Lammas (meaning Loaf Mass day). These are, essentially, the ancient origins of modern state fairs and such.