The Yearly Festivals: Lughnasadh (1 Viewer)

[Ben]

Greetings folks, hope you are all well.

I will be presenting the basic meanings of the yearly festivals we employ in Druidry, Wicca and Paganism over the coming year and there seems no better time than the now...especially as I have just completed a ritual for Lughnasadh a few minutes ago.

Lughnasadh (pronounced loo-nus-uh) is celebrated on or around August the 1st in the Northern hemisphere and 1st February in the Southern hemisphere. In Gaelic it can refer to the whole month of August and also be termed 'Lammas'. The reason for this is that the celebration is a harvest festival that sees the populace reap the corn from the fields and create a bounty for the harsh winter months ahead, amassing grain into loaf so we get the derivative: Loaf-mass.

The festival is known to be a fire festival born of the God of Light 'Lugh' and henceforth many practices across Pagan, Wiccan and Druidic sects involve the ingestion of corn one has cut, the burning of effigies made from the corn stems and even the corn wheels that we still see to this day, burning down Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish and international slopes in France and Holland. This was in honour to Lugh (Llew in Welsh) who is depicted as wrestling the knowledge of agriculture from his predecessors. This birthed the story of Lancelot in Arthurian legend where the caldron of Annwn (Anwyn-Welsh) was given to Arthur by Lancelot who won it in battle from the previous tribes. (@Austin Linda for reference..the synchronicity of your mention today did not escape me )

During Lughnasadh we acknowledge the "death" of light and the bounty given in terms of food during the heights of summer but we also use this ancient knowledge taught to us by Lugh/Llew/Lancelot to make provision for the darker months ahead where light is scarce.

Happy Lughnasadh everyone!! Please feel free to ask questions and/or tell us your own views and experiences surrounding this festival.

Awen.

 

[Stargazer]

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Happy Lughnasadh everyone!! Please feel free to ask questions and/or tell us your own views and experiences surrounding this festival.

Awen.

Great post, Ben...very informative, thank you! It's so cool to learn about all these different spiritual belief systems and cultures!

What does "Myfyriwr o Myddryn" mean at the end of your posts? I googled it, but couldn't find anything.

And Happy Lughnasadh to you!

 

[Ben]

Great post, Ben...very informative, thank you! It's so cool to learn about all these different spiritual belief systems and cultures!

What does "Myfyriwr o Myddryn" mean at the end of your posts? I googled it, but couldn't find anything.

And Happy Lughnasadh to you!

Thank you! It means "Student of Myddryn" in colloquial Welsh. Myddryn is my guide for all magical activity and also a past life spirit. I believe her to be Merlin.

 

[Linda]

Ben, to continue on with synchronicity - after Kristy gave me info about my soapstone being connected to the white soapstone in Cornwall (read about it in the Crystal forum), I meditated with it and a white horse came to me. The land was much different than around here - what I would guess the English countryside is like. Then I read this post about Lancelot and remembered this print that I got from my Grandmother's things, which I always thought was Lancelot. Hard to miss the white horse! (The print is older than I am.) If you want to add a bit more, from my Father's side, our ancestry goes to the Celts in Cornwall.

 

[Stargazer]

Ben, to continue on with synchronicity - after Kristy gave me info about my soapstone being connected to the white soapstone in Cornwall (read about it in the Crystal forum), I meditated with it and a white horse came to me. The land was much different than around here - what I would guess the English countryside is like. Then I read this post about Lancelot and remembered this print that I got from my Grandmother's things, which I always thought was Lancelot. Hard to miss the white horse! (The print is older than I am.) If you want to add a bit more, from my Father's side, our ancestry goes to the Celts in Cornwall.

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Oh, wow...THAT is a treasure!

 

[Ben]

What a gorgeous painting! I wonder if there is some connection @Linda between your father's side and Tintagel (propsed site of Camelot and location of Merlin's cave...although only the latter I agree with but I digress)? What (if you don't mind me asking) is the surname on your father's side?

Lancelot is very demonised in public domain Arthurian legend as being the cheating eloper with Arthur's wife Guinevere and was thus denied ever being able to "see the holy grail". Given the reproductive qualities of that holy grail it's not too hard to imagine what went on there.

The Druidic understanding is that he (Llew) stole the gift of agriculture from Ceridwen, the Earth Mother (early misunderstanding of cheating?) but that she was happy to oblige in the end as it restored balance. It's important to note that the public domain version was written by Cistercian monks pushing a Christian agenda but equally important to note that the Druidic version is merely passed on through legend.

Which one (if either) you deem fit for purpose remains a subjective luxury to this day.