A celebration on the last weekend the Forest will be open before its August sabbath

Every year the Forest closes to daytime and overnight guests for the month of August for a summer sabbath. This annual sabbath allows our resident community and staff to practice respite and renewal and the land has some time to rest. We are grateful to our community and board who supports this important process.

We warmly invite you to join us on the last weekend in July to help us prepare for our August sabbath as a community. This timing beautifully coincides with the Celtic festival of Lammas (August 1) and continues our series celebrating the turning of the wheel of the year.

Lammas celebrates the grain harvest and is a time to honor the bountiful gifts of the land and to acknowledge the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. On Lammas, the first sheaves of grain were cut, and by that night, the first loaves of bread for the season would have been baked. The word Lammas comes from an Old English phrase that translates to loaf mass. In early Christianity, the first loaves of the season were blessed by the church during mass.

Together, we’ll:

• Bless all of the buildings and grounds to clear and release the energy, and to invite rest.
• Bake breads and cakes as a token of gratitude for the many blessings of this season.
• Decorate our communal table with symbols of the season, such as wheat, grains, apples, etc.
• Hold ceremonies and offerings to the land to symbolize our thanks to the earth for the harvest.
• Celebrate the sun and the light, the height of summer and the sun’s power, warmth, energy, and growth.
• Can some fruits and vegetables for the coming fall and winter.
• Pause for individual periods of silence.
• Have optional activities to help prepare the Forest for the sabbath: Locking cabin doors, cleaning up the trail, cleaning up branches on the property, etc.