Candlelight Spells: The Modern Witch's Book of Spellcasting, Feasting, and Healing - Gerina Dunwich 2000
Lammas: August Eve
Sabbat Feasts
Lammas, or Lughnasadh, is a sabbat celebrated by the ancient Druids to pay homage to Lugh, the Celtic sun god.
It is a joyous festival consisting of singing, dancing, ancient Pagan games, and the lighting of sacred yellow candles to honor the death and the rebirth of the god.
A traditional Lammas feast consists of: baked squirrels, mumbo gumbo, erbe salade, cranberry muffins, Sabat cakes, nectar of the gods and Salem brown bread.
BAKED SQUIRRELS
13 skinned and washed squirrels
2½ cups flour
2½ cups yellow cattail pollen
6 tablespoons butter
4 cups beef broth
6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
6 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 minced onions
3 minced cloves of garlic
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper
Dredge squirrels in flour mixed with the yellow pollen of cattails collected in early or midsummer. Melt butter in roasting pan and add squirrels. Brown the meat well on all sides. Add the remaining ingredients. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until squirrels are nice and tender.
MUMBO GUMBO
3 ounces lean salt pork, diced into ¼ inch bits with the rind removed
5 onions, peeled and chopped
1 minced green pepper
1½ cups okra
2 cups corn kernels
4 peeled and diced potatoes
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 cups water
½ cup marigold flowers
3 finely chopped rue leaves
1 cup milk
1 cup light cream
In a heavy three-to-four quart casserole, fry the salt pork over medium heat, turning the bits frequently with a spoon until they are crisp and brown. Transfer the pork bits to paper towels to drain thoroughly. Add the onions, green pepper and okra to the fat remaining in the casserole and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and golden brown. Stir in the corn kernels, diced potatoes, salt, pepper and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer partially covered until the potatoes are soft but still intact. Next, add the reserved pork bits, marigold flowers, rue leaves, milk and cream and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve hot.
ERBE SALADE
Salad burnet leaves
3 chopped rue leaves
Borage stalks, peeled and cut into chunks
Chopped chives
Good King Henry leaves
Lovage stalks
5 tomatoes, cut into small pieces
Herb-seasoned croutons
3 cups pitted and chopped green olives
Herbal salad dressing
Rinse all leaves, stalks and vegetables under cold running water; drain in colander. After drying, transfer to a large salad bowl. Tear leaves into small bite-size pieces. Add the croutons and mix together well. Pour the herbal dressing over the salad and toss lightly.
GERINA’S CRANBERRY MUFFINS
4 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup fresh cranberries
2¾ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 lightly beaten egg
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and sift into a deep mixing bowl. Stirring constantly with a big spoon, pour in the milk. Stir in the egg and butter. Add the cranberries and continue to stir until all of the ingredients are well combined. Ladle batter into buttered muffin-tin cups, filling each about ⅔ full. Bake for 30 minutes or until the muffins are brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
SABBAT CAKES
1½ cups rolled oats
1½ cups flour
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into ½-inch bits
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4—6 tablespoons cold water
Combine the oats, flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda and salt in a deep mixing bowl and stir until well mixed. Drop in the butter bits and stir the oat and flour mixture together with the butter until it looks like flakes of coarse meal. Pour the vanilla extract and four tablespoons of cold water over the mixture, toss together lightly and gather the dough into a ball. (Add up to two more tablespoons of cold water, drop by drop, if the dough begins to crumble.) Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rough rectangle about ⅛ of an inch thick. With a stick and a sharp knife, cut the dough into two-inch triangles. Arrange the sabbat cakes about an inch apart on a large buttered baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, until they are golden brown and firm. Cool on wire racks before serving. This recipe makes 40 two-inch triangular cakes.
NECTAR OF THE GODS
2 cups apricot nectar
1½ cups fruit salad
1 cup sliced bananas
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup chopped pineapple
½ cup maraschino cherry juice
2 ounces rum
Mix all ingredients together in a large punch bowl. Chill for several hours and add crushed ice just before serving.
SALEM BROWN BREAD
2 cups buttermilk
¾ cup dark molasses
1 cup raisins
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon softened butter
In a deep bowl, beat the buttermilk and molasses together vigorously with a spoon. Stir in the raisins. Combine the rye flour, whole wheat flour, corn meal, baking soda and salt and sift them into the buttermilk mixture one cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Butter the bottom and sides of two 2½ cup tin cans. Pour the batter into the cans, dividing it evenly between them. The batter should fill each can to within about one inch of the top. Cover each can loosely with a circle of buttered wax paper and then with a larger circle of aluminum foil. The foil should be puffed like the top of a French chef’s hat, allowing an inch of space above the top edge of the cans so the batter can rise as it is steamed. Tie the wax paper and foil in place with string. Stand the cans on a rack in a large pot and pour in enough boiling water to come about ¾ of the way up the sides of the cans. Bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot tightly and reduce the heat. Steam the bread for two hours and 15 minutes. Remove the foil and paper from the cans at once, and turn the bread out.