Lughnasadh

(Loo-nas-ah) Major Sabbat (High Holiday) - Fire Festival August 1, 2

AKA:

Lunasa (meaning August), Lughnasaad, Lughnasa (Celtic),First Harvest, August Eve, Feast of Cardenas, Feast of Bread, Tailltean Games (Irish), Teltain Cornucopia (Strega), Ceresalia (Ancient Roman) Harvest Home, Thingtide (Teutonic), Lammas (Christian). Laa Luanys, Elembious, Festival of Green Corn (Native American)

Animals/Mythical beings:

griffins, basilisks, roosters, calves, centaurs, phoenix

Gemstones:

aventurine, citrine, peridot, sardonyx, yellow diamondsand citrine

Incense/Oil:

wood aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary, chamomile, eucalyptus, safflower, corn, passionflower, frankincense, sandalwood

Colors/Candles:

red, orange, golden yellow, green, light brown, gold, bronze, gray

Tools/Symbols/Decorations:

corn, cornucopias, red, yellow flowers, sheaves of grain (wheat, barley, oats), first fruits/vegetables of garden labor, corn dollies, baskets of bread, spear, cauldron, sickle, scythe, threshing tools, sacred loaf of bread, harvested herbs, bonfires, bilberries, God figures made of bread or cookie dough, phallic symbols

Goddesses:

the Mother, Dana ( Lugh’s wife & queen ), Tailltiu (Welsh-Scottish), Demeter (Greek), Ceres( Roman grain goddess..honored at Ceresalia), the Barley Mother, Seelu (Cherokee), Corn Mother, Isis (Her birthday is celebrated about this time), Luna (Roman Moon Goddess), other agricultural Goddesses, the waxing Goddess

Gods:

Lugh (Celtic, one of the Tuatha De Danaan), John Barleycorn, Arianrhod’s golden haired son Lleu ( Welsh God of the Sun & Corn where corn includes all grains, not just maize), Dagon (Phoenician Grain God), Tammuz/ Dummuzi (Sumerian), Dionysus, plus all sacrificial Gods who willingly shed blood/give their life that their people/lands may prosper, all vegetation Gods & Tanus (Gaulish Thunder God), Taranis, (Romano-Celtic Thunder God), Tina, (Etruscan-Thunder God), the waning God

Essence:

fruitfulness, reaping, prosperity, reverence, purification, transformation, change, The Bread of Life, The Chalice of Plenty , The Ever-flowing Cup , the Groaning Board (Table of Plenty)

Dynamics/Meaning:

Lugh's wedding to Mother Earth, Birth of Lugh; Death of Lugh, Celtic Grain Festival

Purpose:

honoring the parent Deities, first harvest festival, first fruits grains & drink to the Goddess in appreciation of Her bounty, offering loaves of sacred bread in the form of the God (this is where the Gingerbread Man originated!)





Rituals/Magicks:

astrology, prosperity, generosity, continued success, good fortune, abundance,magickal picnic, meditate & visualize yourself completing a project you’ve started

Customs:

games, the traditional riding of poles/staves, country fairs, breaking bread with friends, making corn dollys, harvesting herbs for charms/rituals, Lughnasadh fire with sacred wood & dried herbs, feasting, competitions, lammas towers (fire-building team competitions), spear tossing, gathering flowers for crowns, fencing/swordplay, games of skill, martial sports, chariot races, hand-fastings, trial marriages, dancing ‘round a corn mother (doll)

Foods:

loaves of homemade wheat, oat, & corn bread, barley cakes, corn, potatoes, summer squash, nuts, acorns, wild berries (any type), apples, rice, pears, berry pies, elderberry wine, crab apples, mead, crab, blackberries, meadowsweet tea, grapes, cider, beer

Herbs:

grain, acacia, heather, ginseng, sloe, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, aloes, frankincense, sunflower, hollyhock, oak leaf, wheat,myrtle

Element/Gender:

fire/female

Threshold:

noon

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Litha

Mabon



SOURCE(S)
"Katydid"

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