Lughnasa (tradition, funeral, myth, pagans, faith)

[Willamena]

My calendar says that today is Lughnasa (happy Lughnasa to you!) and Wikipedia says that it's a Gaelic holiday celebrated in Europe with bonfires and dancing, and it's a time of reunions and parties. "Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends."
"In Celtic mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture."

Can you tell us more about this festival? Do Pagans all over celebrate it? Does it hold special significance for you? Do you plan a big get-together for this holiday?

[Runt]

Lughnasadh (pronounced "loo nas ah" and meaning "assembly of Lugh") is one of the "Greater Sabbats" celebrated in most (but not all) neo-pagan groups. The "Greater Sabbats" (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasadh) are all based on ancient Celtic religious festivals and tend to focus more on neo-pagan theologies than the rhythms of the sun and moon (as in the "Lesser Sabbats" Yule, Ostara, Litha and Mabon).

Lughnasadh is often regarded as the "First Harvest" wherein wheat and other grains are harvested. (Mabon is sometimes referred to as the "Second Harvest" wherein grapes and such are harvested, and Samhain as the "Third Harvest" wherein squash and other such crops are harvested).

Lughnasadh is often associated with the Catholic festival of Lammas or "Loaf Mass", which was the feast of St. Peter In Chains and was a day in which Catholics gave thanks for the wheat used in the making of the bread for the Eucharist.

The history of the festival is as follows: Tailtiu, daughter of the king of Spain, wife of the last king of te Fir Bolg, and foster-mother of Lugh, died after spending a year clearing a great plain of land for her people and losing her life in the process. In her honor, Lugh ordered a variety of sports and feats to be performed as a sort of wake, one of which remains horse racing to this day.

Amusingly enough, this is also a fairly common time to have wedding celebrations, because according to some accounts, Lughnasash actually means "Lugh's Wedding" and in ancient times it was a time in which Kings were "wedded" to the land.

[Isabella Lecour]

Originally Posted by Willamena

Can you tell us more about this festival? Do Pagans all over celebrate it? Does it hold special significance for you? Do you plan a big get-together for this holiday?

Even thought I'm not Wiccan I do try to follow the Wheel of the Year with some adaptations. This particular High Holy Day has been a bit troublesome to me. I've never really connected with the purpose of the day. I have a hard time seeing a corn king, much less that he must die to be reborn. To me it's a she and She never dies. It's the difference between corn and wheat. But even so this day which I refer to as Lammas tends to bring back thoughts of sourdough bread and corn.

Where I live the weekend after starts the mad rush of school shopping and all the maddness of kids returning to school. Often the weather is cooling off just a bit so I can bake bread again, but that hasn't been that way this year. As to get togethers, I haven't due to various reasons. I'm solitary, living in a interfaith family that spread across the world and now I've got a child. Perhaps in the future I'll celebrate with my daughter, I would love too. The biggest thing this day announces for me is that I'm yet again running out of time to throw a big bbq!

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by Isabella Lecour

Even thought I'm not Wiccan I do try to follow the Wheel of the Year with some adaptations. This particular High Holy Day has been a bit troublesome to me. I've never really connected with the purpose of the day. I have a hard time seeing a corn king, much less that he must die to be reborn. To me it's a she and She never dies. It's the difference between corn and wheat. But even so this day which I refer to as Lammas tends to bring back thoughts of sourdough bread and corn.

Where I live the weekend after starts the mad rush of school shopping and all the maddness of kids returning to school. Often the weather is cooling off just a bit so I can bake bread again, but that hasn't been that way this year. As to get togethers, I haven't due to various reasons. I'm solitary, living in a interfaith family that spread across the world and now I've got a child. Perhaps in the future I'll celebrate with my daughter, I would love too. The biggest thing this day announces for me is that I'm yet again running out of time to throw a big bbq!

I definately understand where you're coming from. The issue I think is that the "wheel of the year" is a cultural mush mash of holidays with an invented story of the Holly king pasted onto it.
Lughnasad is a Celtic holiday, and makes sense within the cosmology and folklore of the Celts, and when taken outside of that and put into a totally different context it doesn't make as much sense.

The Celts celebrated the holidays most Wiccans know as the Cross Quarters as their seasonal festivals - Lughnasad was traditionally the first harvest and the first hints of fall. However, the climate today doesn't follow this pattern.

[Mike182]

this Pagan holiday is one that i celebrate least, simply because of my situation at this time of the year. i am home from uni at this time of the year, and always feel confined and suppressed at home, so it's not having a chance to celebrate vs not being in the mood for celebration.

Edit: although last Pagan holiday, i did get a nice visit from a certain celestial body, which i would dearly like again!

[mostly harmless]

I consider Lughnasadh as like a pagan type of thanksgiving...
This is when I and my daughter will donate clothes that are in good condition..we will have a special dinner...I was thinking of finding some ducks to share bread with this year..but, it was really hot here that day and we ended up going to Lake Compounce later in the afternoon to hang out at the water park..