The Music of Lughnasadh
I’m the sovereign splendor of creation,
I’m the fountain within the courts of bliss,
I’m the intense give up of the willpower,
I’m the watchful guardian and the kiss.I’m the many-colored panorama,
I’m the transmigration of the geese,
I’m the burnished glory of the breastplate,
I’m the harbor the place all strivings stop.
Caitlín Matthews, The Celtic Devotional: Each day Prayers and Blessings
Now the Wheel of the Yr has turned as soon as extra, and the season of planting and rising provides solution to the primary harvest, and the primary style of Fall.
Blessings on this Lughnasadh! Generally spelled with two S’s, and pronounced “LOO-nahs-ah” or “Lavatory-NAH-sah,” that is an Irish Gaelic phrase. Additionally it is recognized by the Anglo-Saxon, Christianized identify of “Lammas.”
Lughnasadh is among the Cross-Quarter Sabbats (the Quarters discuss with the Equinoxes and Solstices). Since historic occasions, throughout the northern European traditions, it has been a merry celebration of the First Harvest, that includes dancing, music, matchmaking, and nation honest festivities.
Though a number of the hottest days of Summer time should still be on the way in which, right here within the Northern Hemisphere, we will already discover the diminishing hours of daylight, and really feel the shifting in the direction of Autumn.
Right now, our pals within the lands of the Southern Hemisphere are celebrating Imbolc, when Winter’s grip begins to noticeably slip. Might you be blessed by dearest Brigid this present day!
For all of us, the Equinox is now solely six weeks away. After that, within the northern half of the world, night time’s hours overtake the daylight for six months.
First Harvest
In agricultural traditions all through the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the beginning of the harvest cycle, when grains and corn are the primary to ripen. This can be a day of thanksgiving for these early crops of ripening cereal crops, in addition to the vegetables and fruit that are actually filling our pantries.
Though in some locations, this time additionally begins the searching season, Lughnasadh is primarily a grain harvest, one wherein corn, wheat, barley, and different grain merchandise equivalent to bread are prominently featured.
Right now, many Witches give particular devotion to the Harvest Gods and Goddesses, in addition to observe the sacrificial Dying and Resurrection motif, by making ready magical loaves of bread.
In fact, the grain harvest doesn’t remodel into bread solely, however is used to make spirits. The outdated British people track, John Barleycorn Should Die, which dates again at the least to the fifteenth century, is a witty reference to this theme.
Different actions embody making corn dollies, courtship, and dancing across the bonfire.
Lugh and Taltiu
In her lovely e book of every day devotions, The Celtic Spirit, Caitlín Matthews writes, “This feast is usually understood to be a celebration of the Irish God Lugh, however that is not the case.
“The pageant is widely known primarily in honor of Lugh’s foster-mother, Taltiu (TAWL’too), who single-handedly cleared the plains of Eire of bushes so that agriculture and the grazing of cattle would possibly happen. This essential work is remembered and honored within the myth of Taltiu.
So the that means of Lughnasadh is just not a lot to rejoice Lugh, though naturally any honor given to this Shining God of the Many Items is at all times applicable. As an alternative, it’s to rejoice the promise of Lugh – the vow He gave to His mom.
The video games He established had been held at Telltown (named for Taltiu) in County Meath for a lot of centuries. Although discontinued after medieval occasions (aside from a quick twentieth century revival), the normal celebration unfold all through Eire and different elements of northern Europe as harvest festivals, with individuals gathering for bonfires, dances, harvest suppers, video games, and meals contests.
Giving Thanks and Paying It Ahead
As you rejoice immediately, what vows could you really feel referred to as to make, on behalf of these you like?
In the identical manner that the grain now harvested from the fields comprises the seed for subsequent Spring’s planting, you are the results of your forebears’ seeds of needs and goals. What guarantees are you obliged to maintain, particularly to the Ancestors?
You would possibly take this present day to contemplate what seeds of knowledge, hope, and love chances are you’ll be referred to as to guard and move on to those that come after you.
As I’ve written many occasions, the observe of gratitude is a life-transforming exercise that’s truly documented to have profound medical advantages. This could possibly be a splendid time to start retaining a gratitude journal, after which watch how blessings pour into your life in wonderful methods.
Possibly most of all, as we feast and provides thanks for our bountiful desk, allow us to contemplate what promise and constancy we’d give to the sacred land itself, that makes doable our very lives.
For Goddess is aware of, our fierce, loving allegiance to our Mom Earth is required now greater than ever earlier than.
On this most historic pageant of fireside and feast, could you by no means starvation. Might you by no means thirst.
Blessed be.
