Today the Freehold will be hosting our Lammas faining online through Facebook.We hope that you will all be able to join us as we celebrate Thor, and honour the gods, goddesses, elves, dwarves, and ancestors on this bright sunny day.
The term Lammas is Old English for “loaf mass” where the first loaves of bread made from the current year’s grains were shared and eaten by the community in early Mediaeval England. Though not directly attested from pre-Christian sources, the customs and practices associated with Lammas strongly imply pagan traditions carried forward into Christian times. The Freehold has chosen to participate in this practice.
For Lammas we will be honouring Thor, as he is very active in BC at this time with a significant number of Thunderstorms in our province around this time every year. It is also at this time that farmers harvest their major crops in BC. As such Thor is the obvious choice for associating with this time of year in our community.
Those who wish to join us for a livestreamed faining can do so on this Facebook event. We will be going live at approximately 5:00 pm PDT, the faining will last approximately 15 minutes. We will open with a brief prayer to Thor, then recount a tale about one of his many adventures, make our offerings to him, and finally we will have a symbel. Those who wish to participate are encouraged to grab a drink, and possibly a small offering bowl if you want to pour out your own offerings. During the symbel any toasts you wish made publicly on your behalf can be entered in the chat for the stream.
As usual, the symbel will consist of 3 rounds. The first round, or bedes, is for making toasts to the gods and goddesses. The second round, or myne, is for toasts to ancestors and nature spirits whether elves, wights, dwarves, or other friendly spirits. The third round, or bragafull, is for making oaths, boasts, and toasts about what you or another member of our community has accomplished.
In frith and service,
Aaron Brookes
Freyr of the British Columbia Heathen Freehold
British Columbia Heathen Freehold 