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LUGHNASADH: FEAST OF FIRST FRUITS
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August marks the ancient Celtic feast of Lughnasadh
 Grain is one of the focal points of Lughnasadh. Many of the oldest traditions still prevail. Crowns and wreaths woven from wheat are still crafted today to decorate hearths, homes, people and even some standing stones during late summer. Animals, especially cattle and horses, are swum in rivers or loughs to bless and cleanse them as insurance of their health for the rest of the season. In the ancient days, sacrifices were made. A general blessing is still called down upon the ripening fields during August. July was known as "the hungry month" because right before harvest time, famine was commonly faced as the stores of supplies from the previous year's harvest were by now almost totally depleted. This made Lughasadh an especially joyous occasion, keenly anticipated as the first of three harvests: grain in August, fruit in September, and meat at the end-of-season slaughter on Samhain. Across the Celtic lands and even abroad where the old ways have been transplanted and taken root in new soil, August is still the time of fairs. The "fireman's fairs" and other carnivals which are customary summer pasttimes in many communities remain as shadowy remnants of the ancient Lughnasadh feasts. The firefighters' summer fairs and parades often include war veterans, police officers and other modern-day heroes, even down to small town baseball teams and Boy Scout troops. All are comparable to their pre-Christian counterparts who demonstrated their best feats of strength, virility, courage and skill at the Lughnasadh fairs. Horse races, gambling and mock battles in the form of all sorts of games are still played out today while the original meanings of these activities is usually forgotten. The Puck Fair is the best known example of a Lughnasadh celebration. Amidst the games, feasting, music, dancing, and famous market where every kind of barter could be made for food, crafts and other goods, there was paraded the King of the Fair - a goat chosen to fill the regal role for the day, dressed up, perfumed, bejewelled, decorated, adored and pampered by all, then sacrificed at the end. This symbolized the ritual slaying of the king or his substitute whose shedding of blood on the land was believed to guarantee the continued fertility of the fields. At this time of year, between first fruits and harvest, it was vital to appease the gods because things could still go wrong. This season marks the lull between "a time to reap and a time to sow." Offerings of bridles and butter were flung into the rivers and streams which represented the female forces of nature, while garlands of wheat and flowers decorated the phallic standing stones. The imagery of polarities, opposites, battles and conflicts prevails, although this is subtly muted because a general truce was enforced at Lughnasadh, as at all four of the annual Celtic festivals. The symbols were there, the games were acted out, but a peaceful celebration was to be enjoyed by all. According to folklore, fairies from rival sidhes would battle over the domination of the crops at Lughnasadh. The crops would be blighted in those areas where the resident Folk were defeated. According to ancient lore, the feast of Lughnasadh was first celebrated at Telltown as funeral games in honor of Lugh's foster mother, Taillte, who died while clearing the fields for planting. This is probably a shadow-memory of an older agricultural goddess, now lost in the mists of the ages. Lugh is the primary deity associated with this feast. Three goddesses are also connected with it - Taillte, Lugh's natural mother Ethniu, and Macha who is always associated with horse racing and warriors. Oenach Tailten, the fair at Telltown, was an annual event up until the eighteenth century. Lughnasadh can be translated as "the binding duty of Lugh". At this festival, oaths were taken, contracts were sealed, and marriage vows were exchanged, as mentioned in the following excerpt from "Foras Feasa ar Éirinn", perhaps better known as "The History of Ireland" (1634) by Seathrún Céitinn, (in English, Geoffrey Keating): "The third fortress which Tuathal built, called Taillte, is in the portion of the province of Ulster joined to Meath; and it was here the fair of Taillte was held, in which the men of Ireland were wont to form alliances of marriage and friendship with one another. And a most becoming custom was observed in that assembly, namely, the men kept apart by themselves on one side, and the women apart by themselves on the other side, while their fathers and mothers were making the contract between them; and every couple who entered into treaty and contract with one another were married, as the poet says: 1. The men must not approach the women, Nor the women approach the fair bright men, But every one modestly biding apart In the dwelling of the great fair. Although it was Lughaidh Lamhfhada that first instituted the fair of Taillte as a yearly commemoration of his own foster-mother, Taillte daughter of Maghmor, king of Spain, who was the wife of Eochaidh son of Earc, the last king of the Fir Bolg, as we have said above—now when Taillte had been buried by Lughaidh in that mound he inaugurated the fair of Taillte as a nasadh or commemoration of her; it was for that reason that the name of Lughnasa, that is the gracious nasadh or commemoration, was given to the first day of August, on which is now held the feast of the Chains of Peter—although the mound and fair of Taillte existed from the time of Lughaidh Lamhfhada, still Taillte was not a royal fortress till the time of Tuathal Teachtmhar. Now since the place in which Taillte is belongs to the part that was taken from the province of Ulster, the tax on the fair of Taillte went to the king of Ulster. This was the amount of that tax, namely, an ounce of silver for each couple that got married there." |
Courtyard
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Ynys Môn ( Isle of Anglesey)
Cill Dara Caer Gai Winter Solstice - Rebirth of the Sun Temair Luachra Brú na Bóinne Reflections on Cnoc Áine Samhain: The Last Feast of Summer Clonycavan Man Lough Derg Changelings The Origins of Celtic Christianity and St. Patrick in Ireland In Search of the Real Myrddin, Mad Prophet and Poet Myth and Celtic Culture by Draoi-man Brigantes (David Drew) |
