Lughnasadh is celebrated at the time of the First Harvest. It is the first of the three Harvest Sabbats (Mabon and Samhain being the other two). Usually it is celebrated on 1st August. However, the Ancients Celts passed their days from sundown to sundown, so the celebration should really begin on 31st July. This date is symbolised by the Lion, one of the four figures found on the Wheel of the Year or The World Tarot cards. The other three figures are the Bull, the Eagle, and the Spirit. In astrology, these four figures are the symbols of the four ‘fixed’ signs of the Zodiac.

At Lughnasadh, the Wheel of the Year begins to shift from growing time to harvest time. The subtle changes of the waning sun that occurred at Summer Solstice becomes more evident. Shadows are growing longer as the days slowly become shorter.

Lughnasadh, named in honour of the Celtic god Lugh, is a name which means “light” or “shining.” In Old Irish the word “Lunasa” means “August.” Lugh is the son of Arianrhod, who is associated with sacred kingship and Three-fold Death. His wife’s name is Blodeuwedd, also known as the Flower Maiden.  He was thought to be the god of all the arts, travelling, and influence in money and commerce. To the Romans, Lugh was seen as a counterpart to Mercury.

Games of athletic prowess are played in honour of Lugh. The games are said to be funeral games for Lugh and, in some traditions, his foster mother, who is honoured at this festival because she died while preparing the fields for planting. In Ireland, Lughnasadh is often called the “Tailltean Games”. In many cultures throughout history, however, it was the duty of the King to sacrifice himself for the land, and Lughnasadh is celebrated as Lugh’s death — a death that is necessary for rebirth of the land to take place.

Corn is one of the vital crops harvested now, and in some areas the sacrifice of the Corn King is performed (some reserve this ritual for Mabon however). Death and rebirth are a part of the cycle Lugh journeys through in his mating with the Goddess. The Goddess oversees the festival in her Triple guise as Macha. She presides in her warrior aspect, the crow who sits on the battlefields awaiting the dead.

The gathering of the first crops of the year is also used to symbolize the success and extent of the power raised from the Beltane rites when the Sacred Marriage of the Lord and Lady took place. The theme of sexuality and reproduction is carried over into Lughnasadh as well to ensure the remainder of a good harvest. In Ireland, a common feature of the Tailltean Games were the “Tailltean marriages” — informal couplings lasting only a year and a day or until next Lughnasadh, at which time the couple would decide to continue the arrangement or stand back to back and walk away, thereby dissolving the marriage. These ‘trial’ marriages were usually performed by a poet, bard, priest or priestess of the Old Religion, or shanachie, and were very common into the 1500’s.

This sabbat is also known as the Celebration of Bread. Thus, the reaping, threshing and preparation of breads are part of the rituals. Christianity adopted Lughnasadh, as it did many other pagan holidays in order to convert the Celtic people. ‘Lammas’ was the medieval christian name for the holiday and it means ‘loaf-mass’. On this day, christians would bake loaves of bread from the first grain harvest and lay them on the church altars as offerings.

Lugh’s sacrifice represents not only the sun’s dying power, but also the cycle of rebirth, his energy remaining within the corn we have since harvested. This is also a time to sacrifice bad habits and unwanted things from one’s life by throwing symbols of them into the sabbat fire.

Fire, spirit of the sun,
Wax, thou melting flesh of earth,
Prove this work that I have done,
Bring me love, and beggar death:
Let me be myself consumes
Not by darkness but by light,
Warmth, not cold, until I spend
My final flame against the night.

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