Coven of Cythrawl
lughnasadh
Lugh is the great Celtic Sun God and He rains down upon the crops, living within the golden fields.
This is the time of the first harvests. At this celebration we give thanks to the Earth for its bounty and beauty. It is from these harvests that we eat through the upcoming winter.
Honoring the God Lugh, games and sports are played to celebrate strength and good health. The grain Goddesses Demeter and Ceres are also honored at this time.
This is a time to harvest the dreams planted earlier in the year. Sing or chant all parts of John Barlycorn and drink the ale with health along with a piece of bread and give thanks.
Although in the heat of a
Mid-western summer it might be difficult to discern, the festival of Lammas (Aug
1st) marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall. The days now grow
visibly shorter and by the time we've reached autumn's end (Oct 31st), we will
have run the gamut of temperature from the heat of August to the cold and
(sometimes) snow of November. And in the midst of it, a perfect Mid-western
autumn.
The history of Lammas is as
convoluted as all the rest of the old folk holidays. It is of course a
cross-quarter day, one of the four High Holidays or Greater Sabbats of
Witchcraft, occurring 1/4 of a year after Beltane. It's true astrological point
is 15 degrees Leo, which occurs at 1:18 am CDT, Aug 6th this year (1988), but
tradition has set August 1st as the day Lammas is typically celebrated. The
celebration proper would begin on sundown of the previous evening, our July
31st, since the Celts reckon their days from sundown to sundown.
However, British Witches often
refer to the astrological date of Aug 6th as Old Lammas, and folklorists call it
Lammas O.S. ("Old Style"). This date has long been considered a
"power point" of the Zodiac, and is symbolized by the Lion, one of the
"tetramorph" figures found on the Tarot cards, the World and the Wheel
of Fortune (the other three figures being the Bull, the Eagle, and the Spirit).
Astrologers know these four figures as the symbols of the four "fixed"
signs of the Zodiac, and these naturally align with the four Great Sabbats of
Witchcraft. Christians have adopted the same iconography to represent the four
gospel-writers.
"Lammas" was the
medieval Christian name for the holiday and it means "loaf-mass", for
this was the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain
harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings. It was a day representative
of "first fruits" and early harvest.
In Irish Gaelic, the feast was
referred to as "Lugnasadh", a feast to commemorate the funeral games
of the Irish sun-god Lugh. However, there is some confusion on this point.
Although at first glance, it may seem that we are celebrating the death of the
Lugh, the god of light does not really die (mythically) until the autumnal
equinox. And indeed, if we read the Irish myths closer, we discover that it is
not Lugh's death that is being celebrated, but the funeral games which Lugh
hosted to commemorate the death of his foster- mother, Taillte. That is why the
Lugnasadh celebrations in Ireland are often called the "Tailltean
Games".
"The time went by with
careless heed
Between the late and early,
With small persuasion she agreed
To see me through the barley..."
One common feature of the Games
were the "Tailltean marriages", a rather informal marriage that lasted
for only "a year and a day" or until next Lammas. At that time, the
couple could decide to continue the arrangement if it pleased them, or to stand
back to back and walk away from one another, thus bringing the Tailltean
marriage to a formal close. Such trial marriages (obviously related to the
Wiccan "Handfasting") were quite common even into the 1500's, although
it was something one "didn't bother the parish priest about". Indeed,
such ceremonies were usually solemnized by a poet, bard, or shanachie (or, it
may be guessed, by a priest or priestess of the Old Religion).
Lammastide was also the
traditional time of year for craft festivals. The medieval guilds would create
elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in
bright colors and ribbons, marching in parades, and performing strange,
ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. The atmosphere must
have been quite similar to our modern-day Renaissance Festivals, such as the one
celebrated in near-by Bonner Springs, Kansas, each fall.
A ceremonial highlight of such
festivals was the "Catherine wheel". Although the Roman Church moved
St. Catherine's feast day all around the calender with bewildering frequency,
it's most popular date was Lammas. (They also kept trying to expel this
much-loved saint from the ranks of the blessed because she was mythical rather
than historical, and because her worship gave rise to the heretical sect known
as the Cathari.) At any rate, a large wagon wheel was taken to the top of a
near-by hill, covered with tar, set aflame, and ceremoniously rolled down the
hill. Some mythologists see in this ritual the remnants of a Pagan rite
symbolizing the end of summer, the flaming disk representing the sun-god in his
decline. And just as the sun king has now reached the autumn of his years, his
rival or dark self has just reached puberty.
Many commentators have bewailed
the fact that traditional Gardnerian and Alexandrian Books of Shadows say very
little about the holiday of Lammas, stating only that poles should be ridden and
a circle dance performed. This seems strange, for Lammas is a holiday of rich
mythic and cultural associations, providing endless resources for liturgical
celebration.
"Corn rigs and barley rigs,
Corn rigs are bonny!
I'll not forget that happy night
Among the rigs with Annie!
[Verse
quotations by Robert Burns, as handed down through several Books of Shadows.]
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