The beginning of August ( 1st of August) marks the beginning of the first harvest month, which is named Freyfaxi or Schnitterfest, also known as Lammas or Lugnasadh. Many plants bear fruit, the grain is ripe, medicinal plants have a particularly high effect. The first cut was made at Freyfaxi/Schnitterfest , which marked the beginning of the following harvest season.
The grain is brought in, the stores fill up and people prepare for autumn and winter. And although the days are getting shorter again, the sun shines hotter than usual in the year. So all the fruits get their strength from the sun once more.
Traditionally, women also gathered the medicinal herbs at this time, cut them and formed them into bundles. These are then consecrated to the goddess in mid-August. The Catholic Church has appropriately placed the Assumption of Mary on 15 August. The traditional herb bundle is made of nine herbs. The herbs of the "nine bush" are St. John's wort, yarrow, valerian, wormwood, arnica, peppermint, mullein (which is always tied in the middle), chamomile and centaury.
It is the time when the wheat is separated from the chaff, when it becomes clear whether the seed that was sown has sprouted well and whether the soil was terrible. But as wonderful as the moment is, it is also time to make a truly conscious cut. For the time of abundant fruit will pass. If we don't harvest now, we run the risk of losing everything. The harvest will become rotten and overripe. We must therefore set the specific cut and cut the grain so that we can use it.
This is exactly the quality of the feast. At the moment of absolute ripeness we have to harvest - the grain has to be cut. It is precisely this cutting that is the symbol of the festival that celebrates the "reaper woman" who consciously harvests grain and the fruit with all her strength.
The "Schnitterin" also stands for the aspect of the waning moon. With her sickle she symbolically went over the fields as a scythe woman. In Germany we call her Kornmutter, Kornmuhme or Roggenmutter as well.
Harvest also always means parting, death and clarification. Thus, cutting through, cutting off and ending are parts of the eternal cycle of nature and we also encounter them again and again in our own lives.
This is a wonderful moment to take a closer look at yourself and make a cut and imagine walking across the fields of your own life.
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