Michael and Jaspenelle

Lughnasadh: the grain harvest

Though Lughnasadh was a few days ago, I just finished writing my Book of Shadows page about this sabbat. I thought I would share. Let me know what you think and if you see any glaring typos. Dyslexia and proofreading do not always mesh well…

Lughnasadh: the grain harvest

The blistering first days of August are here, the parched earth does not give us much indication of cooling, but crisp Autumn mornings will soon be on our doorstep. Summer vegetables are at their peak and fill the garden and marketplace, corn and grain are being reaped and pumpkins and apples are beginning to ripen on the farms. In spite of the heat this is also a the time to begin laying down the Winter stores.

Lughnasadh is the first of three harvest sabbats in the Wheel of the Year. It is either celebrated around August 1st or the nearest full moon to it. Lughnasadh has a very convoluted history, Which is something I am certain Lugh would find immensely amusing.

Lughnasadh literally means “assembly of Lugh”. It is an Iris festival that traditionally took place at the start of the grain harvest, around August 1st. In Celtic legend, Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held on this day in the honor of his foster mother, the Fir Bolg queen, Tailtiu. She died clearing a forest for her people to plant grain. The legend states that she was buried beneath the hill of Tailte, which is where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held. As time passed, traditions surrounding Lughnasadh began to solidify into events and ceremonial activities designed to celebrate Tailtiu’s sacrifice as well as the bounty of the harvest.

In early Ireland, it was considered bad luck to harvest your grain any time before Lughnasadh, since that meant that the previous year’s harvest had run out early, which was a serious failing in agricultural communities. Grain has been a vital crop since the dawn of civilization as it is one of the foods that can easily be stored through the harshness of Winter. This has caused grain to become strongly associated with the cycle of death and rebirth in many ancient cultures. It is important to note that the grain referred to in old texts was most likely wheat, not corn. Corn is a crop of the Americas and did not exist in Ireland at the time Lughnasadh was founded.

Lugh is tied to the bountiful harvest as well, though not in the role of Sun God, as many Neopagans believe. This is a error that appeared in the Victorian era and is still perpetuated by many authors today, who confuse him with John Barleycorn. Lugh was actually a god of many talents, patron to craftsman and bards, who was honored for his cleverness and quick wit. He was fond of games of physical prowess as well as skill, particularly horse racing. Lugh had an affinity with storms as well, and it was considered a good omen for it to be stormy on Lughnasadh. It is Lugh who broke Summer’s hold over the land, heralding the start of the harvest. Lugh is further tied to the harvest through some of his triumph in battles with the land-spirits, in which the harvest was released for the use of Mankind.

Modern day Lughnasadh has a healthy dose of the Christianized “Lammas” mixed into it. This makes the celebration even more strongly oriented around the grain harvest. Lammas is celebrated on the first Sunday of August and is a day when everyone brought loaves of bread to church to be blessed. These loaves were baked from the first grain of the season.

In Wicca, the main figure of Lughnasadh is the Sacrificial King, sometimes called John Barleycorn. He embodies the wheat fields and is reaped/sacrificed so that we can survive the Winter. He is a powerful representation of the life and death cycle as he is reborn again come Spring when the fields are sewn again.

In our modern world, it is easy to forget the importance of the harvest. If we needed a loaf of bread, we can buy a prepackaged one from the store. If it runs out, we can easily go get another one. When our ancestors lived, the grain harvest was crucial. Whether the harvest succeeded or failed was the difference between life and death for many families. By celebrating Lughnasadh as a harvest festival, we honor our ancestors’ hard work. Lughnasadh is a time to reflect on the things we could or could not live without as well as the abundance in our lives.

(more…)

Silly Songs

Daddy says I should share one of the really silly songs Mommy modified for me this morning. Maybe she doesn’t remember the words to the other version… Eitherway it made me giggle and grin lots!

The itsy bitsy baby latched on the boobie spout
Down came the milk and washed the baby out
Sleep hit the baby cus the boob was all drained
Till the itsy bitsy baby latched on the boob again

Annnnyhow.

I get to watch mommy make bread for Lughnasadh from my sling today! I love watching her do everything and I am starting to learn to grab too, sometimes I get frustrated when my body doesn’t work like I want it to.

Mommy says Grandpa Tolman is coming to visit me this weekend so I am going to help her clean the house as well. Does baby drool clean as well as mommy spit? We will find out!

Blessed Lughnasadh!

Blessed Lughnasadh!

Lughnasadh is going to be quite different for us this year since we now have Damian! His grandpa Tolman will be here to visit. I want to make an effort to celebrate all the sabbats with Damian but this one might wait till next weekend. I like that cross-quarter days are flexible like that! Heck my solstices and equinoxes kind of are too.

This year I am going to share my seasonal feast recipes with you. All my recipes are all very loose and leave a lot of room for personal taste. I rarely follow instructions except if I am making bread… even then I tend to switch to whole wheat.

Speaking of whole wheat, Lughnasadh celebrates the grain harvest so how about we start with a bread recipe:

BREAD: Baguette

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup bread flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour

- In a large bowl combine honey and warm water, stir in yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes, until foamy.
- Add salt. Add flours 1 cup at a time until dough starts to come together. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed in the rest of the flour until smooth (about 10 minutes.)
- Place dough in an oiled and turn to coat the surface. Cover and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Punch down and form into long slender loaf (approx 21 inches long and 3 inches wide.) Place diagonally on a lightly greased large baking sheet and let rise uncovered for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- After loaf has risen make 3-6 diagonal slashes on it with sharp knife and lightly brush top with cool water. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack. (If you can wait long enough for it to cool, warm baguette smothered in fresh butter or preserves, yum!)

APPETIZER: Bruschetta
There is about a dozen different ways to make this, but this is the way I grew up with, more or less. The ingredients are very flexible and can (and should!) be done to taste.

• 6 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced (I use a garlic press)
• a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 baguette (homemade)
• Olive oil

- Toss together tomatoes, garlic and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to allow flavors to meld.
- Slice baguette into 1-inch pieces and toast. Drizzle with olive oil. (Alternately you can cut the garlic cloves in half and rub them against the toast before drizzling.)
- Top with tomato mixture and serve.

MAIN DISH: Grilled Chicken Salad

• 4 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
• Homemade raspberry vinaigrette
• 1 head lettuce, torn up - I like red leaf or romaine
• 2 cups spinach, torn up
• 2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
• 1 cup corn
• 2 or 3 or 4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 cup mozzarella, cubed or shredded

- Make vinaigrette. Mine uses about 8 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 1 to 2 tbsp local honey, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper. Still all that in a jar and shake. Viola vinaigrette. (I make my own raspberry vinegar but I have seen it in some stores, you could use any fruit vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, or balsamic for that matter.)
- Marinate chicken breasts in some vinaigrette for 30 minutes to and hour. Or you can be inpatient like me and stick some vinaigrette and the chicken in a ziplock and hit with with a rolling pin a few times until it flattens. Force marination.
- Grill chicken and slice. I like it left warm but you could certainly chill if that is your thing.
- In a large bowl toss together your chicken and your other ingredients with more vinaigrette. (Alternately, you could layer it lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, cheese.)

DESSERT: Grilled Peaches

• Peaches, 1 per person
• 2 tsp brown sugar per peach
• Melted butter, enough to brush your peaches with
• Vanilla ice cream

- Cut peaches along the seam all the way around and twist off the pit. Brush cut sides with butter.
- Cook, cut side down, on a hot grill until fruit has grill marks, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Brush tops with butter, turn over, and move to indirect heat. Put 1 tsp of sugar in each peach where the pit was.
- Cover grill and cook until sugar is melted and fruit is tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

If you celebrate Lughnasadh what do you intend of filling your family’s bellies with? Even if you don’t what are you having for dinner? Some local foods too I hope!

Lughnasadh Feast Blessing

I was working on putting all the information I have on Lughnasadh together in an understandable order when I ran across this feast blessing. I have always rather liked it but I have no clue what the original source was. Does anyone recognize it?

Now is the Time of the First Harvest,
When the bounties of Nature give of themselves
So that we may survive
O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain,
Grant me the understanding of Sacrifice
As you prepare to deliver yourself
Under the sickle of the Goddess

And journey to the lands of Eternal Summer
O Goddess of the Dark Moon,
Teach me the secrets of rebirth
as the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold.

I partake of the First Harvest,
Mixing its energies with mine
That I may continue my quest
For the starry wisdom of Perfection
O Lady of the Moon and Lord of the Sun,
before Whom the Stars halt their courses,
I offer my thanks
For the continuing Fertility of the Earth.
May the nodding grain loose its seeds
To be buried in the Mother’s breast
Ensuring Rebirth in the Warmth of next Spring.

[EDIT: A commenter informed me that it originally appeared in "Wicca, A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham.]

My dad will be arriving in Spokane to visit on Lughnasadh, hopefully we won’t scare him too much, hehe.

Some people have asked me if I will be raising Damian in my spiritual path, the answer is yes and no. I have no desire to hide my spirituality with him or exclude him from the traditions Michael and I have formed (such as celebrating the sabbats.) I think family traditions are important and give a child memories to look back on later in life, much the way I fondly look back on Christmas and Easter now.

This will be his first Lughnasadh and he will be present for our celebration of course. As he grows I will explain as much of our beliefs to him as I feel he is ready to absorb. I also intend on teaching him other belief systems as well, and ultimately the choice if what he wishes to practice is his. There is no such thing as too much knowledge. When he is older, if he chooses to continue to follow my path, so be it, if he is called to another, so be it.

About Lughnasadh

(I got the day off so time for blogging about Lughnasadh.)

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn
All that dies shall be reborn.
Corn and grain, Corn and grain
All that falls shall rise again…

What is Lughnasadh all about? As I work my way through tracing the past of all the
Neopagan sabbats as they arise, I find myself confronted by one that seems to upset some people, at least when it is called Lammas. So let us start there.

Lammas is actually the Finnish word for “sheep” but I don’t think this is what irks some Pagans. Lammas is “loaf-mass day” and a Catholic festival day, which falls on the 1st of August. On Lammas it is customary for church goers to bring a loaf of bread made from the new wheat crop. On August 1st or 6th, also within Lughnasadh, new fruits were blessed by the Eastern and Western Chlurches, no doubt derived from the ancient festivities. So let call it by the non-Christian term Lughnasadh (loon-ah-saw) for the remainder of this essay.

Lughnasadh is an ancient festival and while its name comes from Gaelic, it was celebrated widely. In Ireland, Lughnasadh might have been celebrated on the full moon nearest to the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox (it would be August 9th this year - 2006.) It was one of the four principle festivals on the Irish calendar (which are Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain.) Lughnasadh marked the start of Autumn even though in some places it may not feel much like it – it is the time when the first harvests are reaped. In a nutshell it is a time to celebrate the abundance of Mother Earth and also a time to pay homage to the passing of the sun as he goes into the harvest to ensure its abundance.

Of course I am not much for nutshells, lets go into depth. I must say of all the sabbats I have researched, Lughnasadh has been the hardest to find information on and it is hard to untangle modern Pagan beliefs from ancient ones.

Lughnasadh is named in honor of Lugh of the Long Hand, whose solar fire ripens the harvest. He is the Celtic god of art and science. In Celtic lore, Lugh declared that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season in honor of his foster mother - Tailtiu, Lady of the Fir Bolg. She died clearing an area of forest for her people to cultivate. Legend says that she was buried beneath a great mound named for her, the Hill of Tailte, and that is where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held in Ireland. Overtime Lughnasadh came not only to be a harvest festival but one that honored the sacrifices people make to protect and sustain their families and communities.

Because Lughnasadh is sometimes celebrated on the full moon it has also been a celebration of the Lady of the Moon. In Rome, the full moon nearest to August 13th was the Ides, a day dedicated to Diana and her priestesses. They would dance in sacred groves by torchlight. August is also the month of the Grain Moon.

Lughnasadh is said to have been brought to the USA by European settlers brought their traditions with them - like that of the county fairs. County fairs were (and still are) a time for farmers to show off their summer labors and are traditionally held in August and September. The county fairs could of course be tied to Mabon as well. County fairs echo of the ancestors who held games and competitions (as we do at fairs) during Lughnasadh. It is also time and still is one that reminds us of the importance of community. Of course I may be reading into history to much here but the great thing about tradition is how it lasts through any political, religious or otherwise tumultuous times.

In Brittany, Lughnasadh is the time of the benediction to the seas. It is a time when Ahes, the Mermaid Goddess of the drowned city of Ys, gives her people bounty from the ocean.

In neopaganism, Lughnasadh is the time of the Sacrificial King. The year god has passed on to allow the people to survive the winter. He has gone into the harvest so that he and the goddess can make it abundant. The Oak King is pasing into his dark phase but will return come Yule. The Holly king, who triumphed at Litha, reigns.

To me Lughnasadh means a lot of things but most of all it is about community. Lughnasadh teaches us to remember the importance of some living in the now, as our ancestors did. It is the part of the year when our fore bearers did some of the most backbreaking labor and still took time for festivals and celebration. It reminds me of the importance of sharing our gifts with others and also to share burdens so they lay not heavily upon one persons shoulders. Community is vital to me.

The name of Lugh is derived from the old Celtic word “lugio”, meaning “an oath”. It is a time for me to remember the promises I have made to myself and evaluate where I am – and try not to get angry with myself if I have not been successful yet. (In the past, to give another nugget of history county fairs were held for the purpose of matchmaking, which could lead to marriage. In a sense that is another kind of oath.)

As for what we will do with our community of friends on the 12th (which is when we will be celebrating this sabbat) well, that will be a subject for another essay!