Lughnasa

by John Willmott of Celtic Ways

Of all of the 8 ancient Celtic festival holidays,
this is probably the most important where I live.

Lughnasa, Lughnasadh or Lammas is the celebration of the
first harvest of grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Being the first of three harvest festivals it will be largely overlooked
today in many countries due to our easy access to most
fruits, vegetables and grains all year round.
When I was young, this part of the year was a celebrated time
of abundance as we did not have the all year round luxury then.

The name Lughnasa has derived from Lugh, a Tuatha De Dannan
king who is often referred to as an ancient god of light and also
known as the "bright and shining one". Todays words of
"luminous" and "Illumination" have descended from his name.

Lugh, or Lug is another name, is a dominant person of local
legend where I live. I will provide the story on my web site
asap along with views of sites of the legend.

Lugh is said to have been a poet, harpist, metal-smith
and keen sportsman, especially throwing sports.

Lugh learned the harp from Corran,
and the mountain and caves behind where I live is
Ceis (Keash) Corran, and will will provide that story on
my web site with pictures asap.

Lugh's sports abilities obviously aided his famous
confrontation with Balor "of the evil eye", leader of
the Formorians and enemies of the Tuatha De`Dannan.
Though much smaller than Balor, Lugh accurately
threw a stone through a slingshot that knocked
Balor's eye out of the back of his head.
Some legends say this was a spear and not a slingshot.
The David and Goliath story probably got mixed up :-)

When Balor's eye fell it is said that it burned a
deep hole to the centre of the earth.
That hole is said to be Lough Na Sool in Moytura,
north east of Castlebaldwin and about 3 miles from where
I live. About every 10 years the Lough completely dries
out, for unknown reasons, and shows a deep hole.
Then the water slowly returns.

I will publish some pictures as soon as I can.
The next "dry out" should be within a couple of years.

There is much that I could write about Lugh.

Lughnasa as a cross quarter day should be around August 4th
but many "neo-pagans" choose August 1st.
In the Gaelic language Lughnasa became known as the
whole month of August.

The tradition that has survived to this time is more the
sports tradition rather than harvest celebration tradition.

It appears that Lugh's mother, foster mother, Tailtiu, died around
this time so to honour her he held a sports contest at what is now
Teltown, Co. Meath, east of Kells near the R163 to Slane.
A mound still stands which is said to be where some of
the sports were competed from the time of Lugh right up until
the end of the 19th century.

Some of the contests were throwing the hammer and tossing
the caber so today's Highland Games probably originated
from these Tailtiu games.

In ancient tradition, Lughnasa celebration was a time
of baking and blessing the first bread from the first harvest.
More common, was the blessing and cooking of the
first potatoes.

Anyone who has grown potatoes will know that they are
grown by raising soil over the seed potatoes, which form
mounds. Several hills were also regarded by the ancients
as being mounds over the seeds of life.
In fact, some man made mounds, such as Silbury Hill
in England may well have been built to celebrate that reason.
The ancient mount at Telltown, Co. Meath maybe another
example.

At Loughnasa these "mounds" were climbed
and that's where the first bread was blessed,
first potatoes cooked on a fire, a garland wreath of first
flowers were layed or the opening of the sports
celebration with arrows and/or spears shot towards the sun.
Later, at the end of the sports, dancing and songs
would be shared.

Marriages also took place.
Many of these mounds are said to have had
meeting or marriage stones on them.
These are stones with holes.
However, it is also said that most marriages made
at this time are short lived.
Lugh, apparently, had many wives from short lived
marriages.

Today, in Ireland, Lughnasa celebrations are largely
replaced by what is now called "Garland Sunday" on the
last Sunday of July. Its a Bank Holiday weekend.

The most famous celebration is the barefooted pilgrimage
up Croagh Patrick mountain in Co. Mayo.

Where I live at Keash the Garland Sunday is famed as
it combines most of the elements of Lughnasa.
There is the harvest blessing at St. Kevin's church,
a climb up Ceis Corran by the elders,
followed by sports
followed by a ceili in the village hall.