Why we celebrate Lammas Sunday

By The Dean of Norwich, Jane Hedges - 24 July 2018

You are probably familiar with the Church celebrating Harvest Festival, but have you ever heard of Lammas?

Traditionally there are three Sundays in the calendar in addition to Harvest when the Church celebrates significant moments in the agricultural year ~ Plough Sunday in January, Rogation Sunday in May and Lammas at the end of July or beginning of August.

Lammas is the time when communities celebrate the first wheat harvest. In rural communities years ago this would have been a fanatically busy period as the majority of the community got out into the fields to harvest the crops. Even today, with all the modern machinery and techniques available, this is still an extremely busy and tense time for farmers as they hope for good weather and that the crops will bring in high yields of grain.

As we keep Lammas in Church this is an opportunity for us to pray for our farming community as well as for those engaged in the vital work of food research, the development of disease resistant seed, and the science surrounding maintaining healthy soil and the efficient use of water. It is a reminder to all of us of how much we rely on the knowledge, expertise and hard work of others, in order to be provided with the bread we all enjoy. We should never take this precious gift for granted but celebrate and thank God for it.

Ahead of Lammas Sunday, people are invited to attend a Baking, Reflecting, Sharing Lunch in Priors Hall on Saturday 28 July at 10.30am. For more details click here.