www.lfrett.com Millennia ago the Gods were fighting. It was a battle between the Tuatha De Danann of the Heavens and the Fomoiri of the land, over who would control Ireland. The Tuatha De Danann were the gods and goddesses that looked after the humans while the Fomoiri were the gods and goddesses that looked over the land. The Fomoiri controlled good harvests and blight. During this fight, the land of Ireland was going through blight. Because of the Fomoiri there was no food for the animals or the humans. Since they only cared about the land and not humans, the fact that there was no food meant nothing to the Fomoiri. The Tuatha De Danann though did care because their concern was for the human tribes. The leader of the Fomoiri at this time was Balor. He was said to have a fiery eye that could consume anything that it looked at. Balor’s daughter, Ethniu, had triplets with Cian, a Tuatha De Danann. There was a legend that said that a grandson of Balor would kill Balor. Because of this, Balor had his grandsons thrown into the ocean to drown. Two of Balor’s grandchildren died while the other, Lugh, survived. Manannan the god of the sea and Tailtiu raised Lugh. Lugh learned many skills from Manannan. Lugh was a wright, a smith, a champion, a swordsman, a harpist, a hero, a historian, a poet, a sorcerer and a craftsman. By him offering all these skills to the Tuatha de Danann, Lugh was allowed to enter Tara (the seat of the kings of Ireland) and join the Tuatha De. Because of Lugh’s skill, the king of the Tuatha De Danann, Nuada, gave Lugh command of the Tuatha De. During the Battle of Magh Tuireadh, Balor killed the king Nuada. When Balor opened his eye to kill Lugh, Lugh used a sling to fling a stone at Balor’s eye. The sling-stone struck Balor’s eye and caused it to exit Balor’s head through the back. When the eye flew out of the back of Balor’s head, the Fomorian army behind him was decimated by the eye’s poison. Bres, an unpopular former king of the Tuatha De, was also on the battlefield that day. Bres was unpopular with the Tuatha De Danann because, during his reign, he enslaved them. You see, Bres was half-Fomorian and half-Tuatha De. Bres favored his Fomorian half and made the Tuatha De slaves of the Fomorians. Lugh came across Bres and promised to spare his life if Bres would teach the Tuatha De how and when to plow, sow and reap. Lugh’s foster mother, Tailtiu, was given the task of clearing the land for agriculture. Because of this, Lugh created a festival for her. During this festival there were sports games that equaled the Olympics in Greece. Also during this festival there was celebration for the first of the harvests to take place. Fruits, vegetables and grains were all eaten during this time in celebration. This was also a time for marriages and legal contracts. Today we know this festival as one of the 8 sabbats in the Pagan Wheel of the Year. The festival is that of Lughnasadh and occurs on August 1. We celebrate by eating foods made of grains, vegetables and fruits. We have games and parties and at night we light bonfires and dance. Some Pagans will marry (handfast) on this day.
Aloha and Aho my spiritual ohana. Following is my interpretation of the Sabbat called Lughnasadh...
