LUGHNASADH

August 1
(Pronounced 'loo-nus-uh')

ALSO CALLED:

Lammas
August Eve
The First Festival of Harvest

WHAT IT IS:

Lughnasadh means 'the commemoration of Lugh'. Who was Lugh? He was a fire- and light-god of the Baal/Hercules type; his name may be from the same root as the Latin lux, meaning light (which also gives us Lucifer, 'the light-bringer'). Lugh is also a type of the god who undergoes death and rebirth in a sacrificial mating with the Goddess. So in Lughnasadh we have the autumn parallel to the Beltane sacrificial mating with the God of the Waxing Year.

On this Sabbat (which marks the start of the harvest season and is dedicated to bread), Witches give thanks to the gods for the harvest (often with various offerings to the deities to ensure the continued fertility of the land) and honor the fertility aspect of the sacred union of the Goddess and Her consort, the Horned God.

SOME HISTORY:

Lammas was originally celebrated by the ancient Druid priests as the festival of Lughnasadh. On this sacred day, they performed rituals of protection and paid homage to Lugh, the Celtic god of the sun. In other pre-Christian cultures, Lammas was celebrated as a festival of grain, and as a day to honor the death of the Sacred King.

HOW IT IS CELEBRATED:

The making of corn dollies (small figures fashioned from braided straw) is an old Pagan custom which is carried on by many modern-day Witches as part of the Lammas Sabbat rite. The corn dollies are placed on the Sabbat altar to symbolize the Mother Goddess of the harvest. It is customary on each Lugnasadh to make (or buy) a new corn dolly and then burn the old one from the past year for good luck.

Decorate your altar with grain, poppies, and bilberries (if available), with other seasonal flowers. The cauldron, decorated with stems of grain, is by the East candle, the quarter of rebirth.

TRADITIONAL FOODS:

• Homemade breads (wheat, oat, and especially corn bread)
• Barley cakes
• Nuts
• Wild berries
• Apples
• Rice
• Roasted lamb
• Berry pies
• Elderberry wine
• Ale
• Meadowsweet tea

CANDLE COLORS:

• Orange
• Yellow

INCENSE:

• Aloes
• Rose
• Sandlewood

GEMSTONES:

• Aventurine
• Citrine
• Peridot
• Sardonyx

A Lughnasadh Ritual

SEASONS: MAIN PAGE

Samhain  /  Yule   /  Imbolg  /  Ostara  
Beltane  /  Summer Solstice  /  Lugnassadh  /  Autumn Equinox