|Also called||Lúnasa (Modern Irish)|
Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic)
Luanistyn (Manx Gaelic)
|Observed by||Historically: Gaels|
Today: Irish people, Scottish people, Manx people, Celtic neopagans, Wiccans
Pagan (Celtic polytheism, Celtic Neopaganism)
|Significance||Beginnin' of the oul' harvest season|
|Celebrations||Offerin' of First Fruits, feastin', handfastin', fairs, athletic contests|
|Related to||Calan Awst, Lammas|
Lughnasadh or Lughnasa (// LOO-nə-sə) is a holy Gaelic festival markin' the beginnin' of the feckin' harvest season, Lord bless us and save us. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the feckin' Isle of Man. In Modern Irish it is called Lúnasa, in Scottish Gaelic: Lùnastal, and in Manx: Luanistyn. In fairness now. Traditionally it is held on 1 August, or about halfway between the feckin' summer solstice and autumn equinox, would ye swally that? But, in recent centuries some of the bleedin' celebrations shifted to the feckin' Sundays nearest this date. Here's a quare one for ye.
Lughnasadh is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. Sure this is it. It corresponds to other European harvest festivals such as the bleedin' Welsh Gŵyl Awst and the oul' English Lammas.
Lughnasadh is mentioned in some of the oul' earliest Irish literature and has pagan origins. Here's another quare one. The festival itself is named after the feckin' god Lugh. It inspired great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests (most notably the bleedin' Tailteann Games), feastin', matchmakin', and tradin'. Sufferin' Jaysus. Traditionally there were also visits to holy wells, for the craic. Accordin' to folklorist Máire MacNeill, evidence shows that the oul' religious rites included an offerin' of the oul' 'First Fruits', a feast of the feckin' new food and of bilberries, the oul' sacrifice of a bull, and an oul' ritual dance-play in which Lugh seizes the bleedin' harvest for mankind and defeats the powers of blight. Here's a quare one for ye. Many of the bleedin' activities would have taken place on top of hills and mountains.
Lughnasadh customs persisted widely until the bleedin' 20th century, with the event bein' variously named 'Garland Sunday', 'Bilberry Sunday', 'Mountain Sunday' and 'Crom Dubh Sunday'. Sure this is it. The custom of climbin' hills and mountains at Lughnasadh has survived in some areas, although it has been re-cast as a holy Christian pilgrimage. Here's another quare one. The best known is the 'Reek Sunday' pilgrimage to the oul' top of Croagh Patrick on the oul' last Sunday in July. Right so. A number of fairs are also believed to be survivals of Lughnasadh, for example, the oul' Puck Fair. Bejaysus here's a quare one right here now.
Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans have observed Lughnasadh, or somethin' based on it, as an oul' religious holiday. Holy blatherin' Joseph, listen to this. In some places, elements of the festival have been revived as a cultural event.
In Old Irish the oul' name was Lugnasad (IPA: [ˈlˠʊɣnˠəsˠəd̪ˠ]), would ye swally that? This is an oul' combination of Lug (the god Lugh) and násad (an assembly), which is unstressed when used as a suffix. Later spellings include Luᵹ̇nasaḋ, Lughnasadh and Lughnasa.
In Modern Irish the spellin' is Lúnasa [ˈl̪ˠuːn̪ˠəsˠə], which is also the feckin' name for the bleedin' month of August, to be sure. The genitive case is also Lúnasa as in Mí Lúnasa (Month of August) and Lá Lúnasa (Day of Lúnasa). In Modern Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the feckin' festival and the month are both called Lùnastal [ˈl̪ˠuːnəs̪t̪əl̪ˠ]. In Manx (Gaelg), the bleedin' festival and the month are both called Luanistyn [ˈluanɪstθən], be the hokey! The day itself may be called either Laa Luanistyn or Laa Luanys.
In Welsh (Cymraeg), the bleedin' day is known as Calan Awst, originally a Latin term, the feckin' Calends of August in English. In Breton (brezhoneg), the bleedin' day was known as Gouel Eost, the oul' Feast of August.
Historic Lughnasadh customs
In Irish mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have begun by the oul' god Lugh (modern spellin': Lú) as a holy funeral feast and athletic competition (see funeral games) in commemoration of his mammy or foster-mammy Tailtiu. She was said to have died of exhaustion after clearin' the bleedin' plains of Ireland for agriculture. Tailtiu may have been an earth goddess who represented the feckin' dyin' vegetation that fed mankind. The funeral games in her honour were called the bleedin' Óenach Tailten or Áenach Tailten (modern spellin': Aonach Tailteann) and were held each Lughnasadh at Tailtin in what is now County Meath. Accordin' to medieval writings, kings attended this óenach and a holy truce was declared for its duration. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It was similar to the feckin' Ancient Olympic Games and included ritual athletic and sportin' contests, horse racin', music and storytellin', tradin', proclaimin' laws and settlin' legal disputes, drawin'-up contracts, and matchmakin'. At Tailtin, trial marriages were conducted, whereby young couples joined hands through a hole in a feckin' wooden door. The trial marriage lasted a year and a holy day, at which time the bleedin' marriage could be made permanent or banjaxed without consequences. A similar Lughnasadh festival, the feckin' Óenach Carmain, was held in what is now County Kildare. Whisht now. Carman is also believed to have been a holy goddess, perhaps one with a feckin' similar tale as Tailtiu. The Óenach Carmain included an oul' food market, a holy livestock market, and a market for foreign traders. After the oul' 9th century the oul' Óenach Tailten was celebrated irregularly and it gradually died out. It was revived for an oul' period in the 20th century as the feckin' Tailteann Games.
From the bleedin' 18th century to the mid 20th century, many accounts of Lughnasadh customs and folklore were recorded. In 1962 The Festival of Lughnasa, a feckin' study of Lughnasadh by folklorist Máire MacNeill, was published. MacNeill studied survivin' Lughnasadh customs and folklore as well as the feckin' earlier accounts and medieval writings about the oul' festival. Soft oul' day. She concluded that the bleedin' evidence testified to the existence of an ancient festival around 1 August that involved the oul' followin':
A solemn cuttin' of the first of the feckin' corn of which an offerin' would be made to the deity by bringin' it up to a bleedin' high place and buryin' it; a meal of the oul' new food and of bilberries of which everyone must partake; a holy sacrifice of a feckin' sacred bull, an oul' feast of its flesh, with some ceremony involvin' its hide, and its replacement by a bleedin' young bull; a holy ritual dance-play perhaps tellin' of a holy struggle for a goddess and a feckin' ritual fight; an installation of a feckin' [carved stone] head on top of the bleedin' hill and a holy triumphin' over it by an actor impersonatin' Lugh; another play representin' the confinement by Lugh of the monster blight or famine; a feckin' three-day celebration presided over by the feckin' brilliant young god [Lugh] or his human representative. Finally, a holy ceremony indicatin' that the oul' interregnum was over, and the oul' chief god in his right place again.
Accordin' to MacNeill, the bleedin' main theme that emerges from the feckin' folklore and rituals of Lughnasadh is a struggle for the feckin' harvest between two gods, for the craic. One god – usually called Crom Dubh – guards the grain as his treasure. Jaysis. The other god – Lugh – must seize it for mankind. Sometimes, this was portrayed as a holy struggle over a bleedin' woman called Eithne, who represents the oul' grain, the hoor. Lugh also fights and defeats a holy figure representin' blight. MacNeill says that these themes can be seen in earlier Irish mythology, particularly in the bleedin' tale of Lugh defeatin' Balor, which seems to represent the overcomin' of blight, drought and the oul' scorchin' summer sun. In survivin' folklore, Lugh is usually replaced by Saint Patrick, while Crom Dubh is a holy pagan chief who owns an oul' granary or an oul' bull and who opposes Patrick, but is overcome and converted, so it is. Crom Dubh is likely the bleedin' same figure as Crom Cruach and shares some traits with the Dagda and Donn. He may be based on an underworld god like Hades and Pluto, who kidnaps the feckin' grain goddess Persephone but is forced to let her return to the bleedin' world above before harvest time.
Many of the oul' customs described by MacNeill and by medieval writers were bein' practised into the bleedin' modern era, though they were either Christianized or shorn of any pagan religious meanin'. Sure this is it. Many of Ireland's prominent mountains and hills were climbed at Lughnasadh, you know yerself. Some of the oul' treks were eventually re-cast as Christian pilgrimages, the bleedin' most well-known bein' Reek Sunday—the yearly pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick in late July. Other hilltop gatherings were secular and attended mostly by the oul' youth. Jesus Mother of Chrisht almighty. In Ireland, bilberries were gathered and there was eatin', drinkin', dancin', folk music, games and matchmakin', as well as athletic and sportin' contests such as weight-throwin', hurlin' and horse racin'. At some gatherings, everyone wore flowers while climbin' the oul' hill and then buried them at the oul' summit as an oul' sign that summer was endin'. In other places, the oul' first sheaf of the harvest was buried. There were also faction fights, whereby two groups of young men fought with sticks. In 18th-century Lothian, rival groups of young men built towers of sods topped with a bleedin' flag. C'mere til I tell ya now. For days, each group tried to sabotage the feckin' other's tower, and at Lughnasadh they met each other in 'battle'. Bull sacrifices around Lughnasadh time were recorded as late as the oul' 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint Máel Ruba). Special meals were made with the bleedin' first produce of the feckin' harvest. In the bleedin' Scottish Highlands, people made a special cake called the bleedin' lunastain, which may have originated as an offerin' to the oul' gods.
Another custom that Lughnasadh shared with Imbolc and Beltane was visitin' holy wells, some specifically clootie wells, Lord bless us and save us. Visitors to these wells would pray for health while walkin' sunwise around the well; they would then leave offerings, typically coins or clooties. Although bonfires were lit at some of the bleedin' open-air gatherings in Ireland, they were rare and incidental to the oul' celebrations.
Traditionally, Lughnasadh has always been reckoned as the bleedin' first day of August. In recent centuries, however, much of the bleedin' gatherings and festivities associated with it shifted to the bleedin' nearest Sundays – either the bleedin' last Sunday in July or first Sunday in August, the hoor. It is believed this is because the comin' of the feckin' harvest was an oul' busy time and the bleedin' weather could be unpredictable, which meant work days were too important to give up. As Sunday would have been a feckin' day of rest anyway, it made sense to hold celebrations then. The festival may also have been affected by the shift to the Gregorian calendar.
Modern Lughnasadh customs
In Ireland, some of the mountain pilgrimages have survived, like. By far the oul' most popular is the feckin' Reek Sunday pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick, which attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.
The Puck Fair is held each year in early August in the town of Killorglin, County Kerry. It has been traced as far back as the bleedin' 16th century but is believed to be a bleedin' survival of a Lughnasadh festival. At the oul' beginnin' of the three-day festival, a wild goat is brought into the feckin' town and crowned 'kin'', while an oul' local girl is crowned 'queen', would ye believe it? The festival includes traditional music and dancin', a parade, arts and crafts workshops, a holy horse and cattle fair, and a holy market. Arra' would ye listen to this. It draws a holy great number of tourists each year.
In recent years, other towns in Ireland have begun holdin' yearly Lughnasa Festivals and Lughnasa Fairs. Right so. Like the feckin' Puck Fair, these often include traditional music and dancin', arts and crafts workshops, traditional storytellin', and markets, the cute hoor. Such festivals have been held in Gweedore, Sligo, Brandon, Rathangan and an oul' number of other places. Arra' would ye listen to this. Craggaunowen, an open-air museum in County Clare, hosts a yearly Lughnasa Festival at which historical re-enactors demonstrate elements of daily life in Gaelic Ireland. Jesus, Mary and holy Saint Joseph. It includes displays of replica clothin', artefacts, weapons and jewellery. A similar event has been held each year at Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim. In 2011 RTÉ broadcast a bleedin' Lughnasa Live television program from Craggaunowen.
In the feckin' Irish diaspora, survivals of the Lughnasadh festivities are often seen by some families still choosin' August as the feckin' traditional time for family reunions and parties, though due to modern work schedules these events have sometimes been moved to adjacent secular holidays, such as the oul' Fourth of July in the bleedin' United States.
Lughnasadh, or similar festivities based on it, is observed by some modern Pagans in general and Celtic Neopagans in particular. Jaysis. Despite their common name, such Lughnasadh celebrations can differ widely. G'wan now. While some attempt to emulate the historic festival as much as possible, others base their celebrations on many sources, the oul' Gaelic festival bein' only one of them.
Neopagans usually celebrate Lughnasadh on 1 August in the bleedin' Northern Hemisphere and 1 February in the oul' Southern Hemisphere, often beginnin' their festivities at sunset the oul' evenin' before. Some Neopagans celebrate it at the feckin' astronomical midpoint between the feckin' summer solstice and autumn equinox, or the bleedin' full moon nearest this point. In 2020, this astronomical midpoint falls on 7 August (Northern hemisphere) or 4 February (Southern hemisphere).
Celtic Reconstructionist pagans strive for continuity with pre-Christian practices of the oul' Celts, based on research and historical accounts, but may be modified shlightly to suit modern life. Reconstructionists avoid syncretic or eclectic approaches that combine practises from different cultures.
Celtic Reconstructionists who follow Gaelic traditions tend to celebrate Lughnasadh at the time of "first fruits", or on the oul' full moon nearest this time. In the bleedin' Northeastern United States, this is often the time of the oul' blueberry harvest, while in the Pacific Northwest the feckin' blackberries are often the feckin' festival fruit. In Celtic Reconstructionism, Lughnasadh is seen as a time to give thanks to the feckin' spirits and deities for the bleedin' beginnin' of the bleedin' harvest season, and to propitiate them with offerings and prayers not to harm the oul' still-ripenin' crops. The god Lugh is honoured by many at this time, and gentle rain on the feckin' day of the oul' festival is seen as his presence and his bestowin' of blessings. Many Celtic Reconstructionists also honour the goddess Tailtiu at Lughnasadh, and may seek to keep the bleedin' Cailleachan from damagin' the bleedin' crops, much in the oul' way appeals are made to Lugh.
Wiccans use the bleedin' names "Lughnasadh" or "Lammas" for the oul' first of their autumn harvest festivals. It is one of the bleedin' eight yearly "Sabbats" of their Wheel of the feckin' Year, followin' Midsummer and precedin' Mabon. C'mere til I tell ya. It is seen as one of the two most auspicious times for handfastin', the bleedin' other bein' at Beltane. Some Wiccans mark the oul' holiday by bakin' a holy figure of the "corn god" in bread, and then symbolically sacrificin' and eatin' it.
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