2nd February (Southern Hemisphere)
1st August (Northern Hemisphere)
Other names used for this
holiday: Lughnasadh (pronounced 'Lunasa'),
Lammas, August Eve, Feast of Bread, Harvest Home,
Dozynki
Traditional
Foods: Apples, Grains, Breads and Berries
Herbs
and Flowers: All Grains, Grapes, Heather,
Blackberries, Sloe, Crab Apples, Pears
Incense:
Aloes, Rose, Sandalwood
Sacred
Gemstone: Carnelian
Ritual
actions: Breads are baked and eaten, or
placed in the fire. Grains are woven into corn
dollies or Goddess or God symbols. Visits to fields
and planting the seeds from the fruit consumed during
the celebration are performed. A "fall cleaning"
may be done at this time, changing the drapes and
linens, preparing to store items away during the
winter months. Loaves of bread, sheaves of wheat,
barley, oats, and fruits are placed on the altar. The
corn dollies may be places there as well.
History
of Lammas
With
the coming of Christianity Lughnasadh became Anglo-Saxon
Lughomass ("'loaf-mass.' It's roots were in
Lugh's Mass") and later 'Laminas,' meaning the
corn the corn king but were (i.e. grain) harvest and
the killing of "bread made from the officially"
replaced by a mass in which the loaves of first
sheaves harvested were taken to church and blessed.
Columcille (the Ploughmen" with St.Columba)
tried to change Lammas into a "Feast of no
success.
It
is in Irish Gaelic that the feast is referred to as
'Lugnasadh', a feast meant to commemorate the funeral
games of the Irish sun-god Lugh. Though many believe
it celebrates the death of Lugh, the god of light
does not really die (mythically) until the autumnal
equinox. If the Irish myths are read closer, it is
not his death which is being honored but the funeral
games which Lugh hosted to commemorate the death of
his foster-mother Taillte, the daughter of the Fir
Bolg king Mag Mór (Great Plain) who later became the
queen of the Fir Bolg. As a favour to Lugh she
cleared the Forest of Breg, making a plain for
cultivation, and died of exhaustion for her trouble.
Lugh decreed that a feast was to be held in her
honour every August 1st at Tailtean (Telltown in
County Meath). That is why the Lugnasadh celebrations
in Ireland are often called the 'Tailltean Games'.
One possible derivation of the name of Lugh is from
the old Celtic word "lugio", meaning "an
oath." A traditional part of the celebrations
surrounding Lughnasadh is the formation of oaths.
From before
recorded history into the twentieth century,
marriages, employment contracts and other bargains of
a mundane nature were formed and renewed at this time
of year. Since the agricultural year had its
culmination in the harvest and the harvest festivals,
oaths and contracts that had to wait until after the
corps were in could be focused on at this time.
Marriages, hiring for the upcoming season and
financial arrangements were often a part of the
Lughnasadh activities and in many areas fairs were
held specifically for the purpose of hiring or
matchmaking.
Another
common feature of the Games were the 'Tailltean
marriages', informal marriages which lasted for only
'a year and a day' or until next Lammas. At that
time, the couple could decide to continue the
arrangement if it pleased them or walk their separate
ways. Such trial marriages (or 'Handfastings') were
common even into the 1500's, although it was
something one 'didn't bother the parish priest about'.
Such ceremonies were usually solemnized by a poet,
bard, shanachie, or possibly a priest or priestess of
the Old Religion.
Lammastide
was also the traditional time of year for craft
festivals. Medieval guilds would create elaborate
displays of their wares, decorating their shops and
themselves in bright colors and ribbons, marching in
parades, and performing ceremonial plays and dances
for the entranced
onlookers.
The
'Catherine wheel' or sun wheel was a ceremonial
highlight. Though the Roman Church moved St.
Catherine's feast day all over the calender, it's
most popular date was Lammas. They also kept trying
to expel this much-loved saint from the ranks of the
blessed because she was mythical rather than
historical, and because her worship gave rise to the
heretical sect known as the Cathari. A large wagon
wheel was taken to the top of a near-by hill, covered
with tar, set aflame, and ceremoniously rolled down
the hill. Some mythologists see in this ritual the
remnants of a Pagan rite symbolizing the end of
summer, the flaming disk representing the sun-god in
his decline.
Lugh
was the chief god of the Tuatha dé Danaan in their
later years. He was the son of Kian and Eithlinn,
daughter of Balor, the Formorian king. To escape
Balor's wrath, he was fostered out to Mannanán,
Goibhniu, and/or Tailltiu, depending on the myth.
Later helping the Danaans defeat the
Formorians, he drive them from Ireland, killing Balor
in the process, thus fulfilling the prophesy that
Balor was trying to thwart. He is called Samhioldánach,
"equally skilled in all the arts," and is
the patron of craftsmen and artists. He took over
from the elder gods Balor/Cromm/Bres, taking the
fruits of their power but not the power itself and
was later replaced by Cúchulain/Finn, and then St.
Michael and St. Patrick. Lugh remained in folk memory
as Lugh-chromain ("little stooping Lugh"),
or Leprechaun.
In
the Celtic nations of Europe traditions surrounding
Lughnasadh still continue from pre-Christian times.
Most often, celebration of the holiday occurs on the
first Sunday of August or the Sunday just before the
first day of August. In modern Ireland the tradition
still continues that on the last Sunday of July
families ascend into the hills of the countryside to
pick bilberries, symbolic of the bounty of Mother
Earth and of the fruits harvested when Tailltiu made
a place for the grain that would feed the generations
to come after her. With the coming of Christianity to
the Celtic lands, the old festival of Lughnasadh took
on Christian symbolism. Loaves of bread were baked
from the first of the harvested grain and placed on
the church altar on the first Sunday of August.