On this day we honor the beginning of the harvest, the first fruits of the grain. It is time to be thankful for the gifts of life we are receiving. The grain that is being harvested now will nourish our bodies and help us to sustain life over the long winter ahead. It is a basic part of life that some things must die so that others may live. The taking of life, even that of the grain, is a sacrificial act that should be surrounded with much awe, thanks, and praise.
Life is never to be taken lightly.
Life and death form an endless cycle. This time of the year is the beginning of the end of this year s cycle. This is a time of transformation. Even as the baker takes the grain and transforms it through her work and the heat of her hearth, so must we take the harvest of our year and transform it by our work and our energy into that which will carry us through the coming winter. Take and eat this bread of the harvest.