Lughnasadh also known as Lammas marks the Celtic Harvest festival. The festival takes it's name from the Irish God Lugh, one of the chief gods of the Tuatha De Danann. The modern Irish spelling, Lunasa, is the name of the month of August in Irish Gaelic. In Scotland the festival is known as Lunasda, or Lunasdal. It is the time for all to celebrate the harvest, and the hard work of summer yeilding the fruits of labor. Lugh, the Celtic deity who presides over the arts and sciences, decreed that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season to honor his foster mother Tailitiu, the last queen of the Fir Bolg. According to the Celtic legend Tailitiu died of exhaustion after clearing a large forest area to plant grain for her people. Tailitiu gives her name to Teltown in County Meath, where the festival was traditionally held in earlier times, also the site of her burial mound Tailte. At this gathering there were games and contests of skill, as well as the great feast to celebrate the harvest. Artists and entertainers came from far and wide, and traders came to sell food, livestock, and other goods. This festival became a time to enter into agreements, and legal contracts, this was also a very popular time for handfasting (which lasts for a year and one day). It is Lughnasadh that gave rise to the Country fairs usually held in August and September here in the Appalachian Mountain region of the United States. As of old, people still sing and dance jigs ad reels to the music of fiddles and flute. Uproarious sporting contests and races are still held today in these country fairs. This Sabbat is also known as the celebration of bread. Bread was one of the main staples of our ancestors, the ripening of the grain was cause for great celebration. The reaping, threshing, and preparation of the grain was the root of many of the rituals and ceremonies to ensure the bounty for the following year. Wiccans in Britain observe the sabbat on the astrological date of August 6th, (Old Lammas). Later in medieval times Christians began to refer to the holiday as "loaf-mass" or Lammas, for this was the day that the firsrt loaves of bread were baked from the first harvest of grain. The bread was laid on church alters as offerings, and thanks. Traditional foods for this sabbat include apples, pears, grains, breads, and berries. May your personal Harvest be Bountiful ! |
">
">
">
">
