Lughnasadh

What is Lughnasadh? Is Lughnasadh the same as Lammas? We answer these questions and more in the post below!

Photo Credit: Polina Rytova

What is Lughnasadh?

Pronounced LOO-nah-sah, Lughnasadh is an old Gaelic festival named after the god Lugh. The name “Lughnasadh” is Old Irish for (roughly) “The Gathering of Lugh”. This holiday is also called Lúnasa (modern Irish), Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic), and Luanistyn (Manx Gaelic).

Lughnasadh starts at sunset on July 31st and ends the night of August 1st, being halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox; the holiday is one of four known Seasonal Festivals of the Gaelic-Celtic people, the others include Beltane, Samhain, and Imbolc.

Note: The Holiday is held on January 31st — February 1st in the Southern Hemisphere!

Who is Lugh?

Lugh has many epithets, including (but not limitied to) Lugh Lámfada “of the long arm”, Ildánach ”the Skilled God” , and *Macnia “*the Youthful Warrior”.

He is the god of many skills, art, and justice. Though he also had a tricky side.

Lugh is also linked to lightning and the sun due to the etymology of his name; Lugh has been suggested to translate as “light” and one of his many epithets is “The Shining One”.

Feel free to read more about Lugh in this Deity Guide I wrote for him or look at the references and further reading section below!

History of Lughnasadh

The holiday may be named after Lugh, but one of the more popular myths around Lughnasadh is that Lugh had created it in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after readying the fields for agriculture.

In the history of Lughnasadh, competitive games, particularly the Tailteann Games or Áenach Tailten (modern spelling: Aonach Tailteann) were held.

Feasts were had, as the holiday originated in legend as a funeral feast for Tailtiu.

Holy wells were visited during Lughnasadh, much like the other Celtic holidays. People would pray and offer coins (or clooties) while walking around the well clockwise.

As Lugh is also the god of oath-keeping and justice, contracts were signed and diplomatic meetings were held during Lughnasadh.

Matchmaking and hand-fastings were held on Lughnasadh. Specifically trial marriages were started on this day, with a trial period of a year and a day; you could finalize it after the year’s end or end the marriage.

Bonfires were sometimes lit but were not necessarily a huge part of this particular holiday.

Traditionally for Lughnasadh, folks would take the first corn of the harvest and climb to the top of a hill or otherwise high location to bury it as an offering.

A sacred bull would also be sacrificed sometimes, and the meat of the bull would be a part of the feast. The bull would then be replaced by a new, younger bull for the next year’s festival.

Notes

• The exact traditions of the holiday would vary based on the culture, location, and even family of those celebrating it.
• Often conflated, Lammas, the two holidays share many similarities but are different in origin and history. Lughnasadh is Gaelic and Pagan whereas Lammas is Anglo-Saxon and Christian.
• In the References and Further Reading section below you can read a great blog post about it titled “A Little History of Lammas” in which the author puts it perfectly: Conflating these two holidays “is not just an oversimplification but also culturally tone-deaf; even if they have linked origins — and that’s a big if — the Irish and English festivals have very different histories, and have to be understood within their different cultural contexts.”

Modern Day Lughnasadh

Correspondences

Note: Any historic or traditional offerings will be marked with a (T). Your offerings do not have to be historic to be valid, this is just my way of categorizing!

Deities

• Lugh is obviously the main deity for this holiday historically. Other deities that honor harvests and such could also be celebrated on this day.

Colors

• Warm colors like orange, yellow, and gold.
• Warm brown tones.
• Earthy Green

Herbs and Plants

• Corn
• Wheat
• Basil
• Calendula
• Chamomile
• Echinacea
• Fennel
• Lemon balm
• Marjoram
• Nasturtium
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Sunflowers
• Sweet alyssum
• Thyme
• Yarrow

Stones/Metals/Crystals

• Gold
• Citrine
• Tiger’s eye jasper
• Ruby
• Hematite

Spell-work

• Spells that deal with justice and fairness
• Creating contracts with spirits or deities
• Spells that deal with abundance
• Prosperity spells

Offerings

• Coins
• Corn
• Bilberries
• Blueberries
• Pies (specifically bilberry or blueberry pies)
• Wine
• Cake

Activities

• Cornhole (the game)
• Bake a cake
• Prepare a feast
• Take a walk and appreciate the coming change of the seasons
• Research Lugh, his foster mother, and Celtic history!

Citations and Further Readings

Lughnasadh — New World Encyclopedia

Lugh — Mythopedia

A Little History of Lammas by A Clerk of Oxford

July Garden — Tenth Acre Farm