The Christian holiday, Lammas, is celebrated on August 1st of each year. It is often associated with the pre-Christian Gaelic holiday, Lughnasadh – but some acoustic wits even associate it with “lamas” and “llamas.”It might seem like quite a stretch to associate “llamas” with religious expression. However, the Incas didn’t necessarily think so. Perhaps it was the llama’s soulful eyes that caused them to worship a multicolored llama-god called Urcuchillay. More likely, it was the male llama’s talent for guarding animals, for Urcuchillay was particularly revered by herders. The Incas also associated Urcuchillay with the constellation Lyra (the shape of which has also been linked with King David’s harp and the ancient-Greek musician Orpheus).
Lamas, on the other hand, are easily associated with religion in today’s media. According to Wikipedia, the Tibetan word “lama” is similar in meaning to the Sanskrit word “guru.” Both terms have been used to denote “venerated spiritual masters” or “heads of monasteries” for centuries. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Lama teaches the Dharma (the “natural order of things” which includes “justice, social harmony and humanhappiness”). The contemporary 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Dondrub) had also been the head of state for the exiled Tibetan government until he retired in March 2011.
The word “Lammas” has also been used for centuries. It derives from the phrase “loaf mass,” as Lammas has been a Christian wheat-harvest festival since before the days of Anglo Saxons. Lammas, which was also called “the feast of the first fruits,” has been celebrated by both Eastern and Western Churches. It has also been linked to the Gaelic god Lugh’s funeral for the goddess Tailtiu (who died of exhaustion after clearing Ireland’s fields for agricultural purposes).
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urcuchillay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lughnasadh
Copyright August 1, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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