Lughnassadh

1^st August

Alternate Names

Lammas, Lunasa, Celtic 'Grain Festival'

Druidic Name

Lughnasadh

Christian Equivalent

Lammas

Place in the Natural Cycle

Lughnassadh is the cross-quarter festival that heralds the start of the autumn quarter of the year and the end of the summer quarter. Even though Lughnassadh occurs at the warmest time of the year, it marks the time at which days become noticeably shorter.

Further Details

The autumn season contains three harvests, and Lughnassadh is the first of these, the time when the first corn harvest is cut. Lughnassadh is named after Lugh (pronounced 'loo'), a Celtic deity of light and wisdom. At Lughnassadh, bread from the first harvest was eaten in thanks, and this tradition was continued in the Christian church's Lammas ('loaf-mass') service, where the first loaf would be blessed at mass.

In terms of the Goddess cycle, Lughnassadh is sometimes considered as the time of transformation of the Goddess into her aspect as pregnant Earth Mother. The God is getting weaker as the days grow shorter, but his rebirth is assured as he is also present as the Goddess's unborn child. Though the God is often considered as dying at Samhain, there is a sacrificial aspect to Lughnassadh, with the Corn King being cut down to be transformed into the life-giving fruits of the harvest and resurrected as the new crop the following year. Deities and symbols associated with agriculture and harvest are all appropriate for Lughnassadh, and a symbolic eating of bread is often an important part of celebrations at this time of year.

Lughnasadh is a time to take stock and be thankful for what we have and what we have achieved. It is a time for sharing and appreciation, a time to consider our situation and learn the lessons of the ways in which we have reaped what we have sown, for good or for ill. It is also an auspicious time for deciding how to get the most from ongoing situations or projects, and how to bring more negative influences to an end.