LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Lughnasadh
built 634 days ago
For Irish Gaelic, Lughnasadh is a feast to commemorate the funeral games hosted by Lugh in honour of his foster mother, Tailte. This festival is ... known by its Saxon name "Lammas", meaning "Loaf mass" where the first loaf baked from the newly gathered corn celebrates the corn harvest. Lughnasadh is a Goddess festival and a time for celebrating the bounty of the Goddess of the Harvest. Once the harvest was gathered, people would cease work for a few days and enjoy a well-earned rest. Lugh's Games were celebrated with fairs, contests and revelry. Cattle markets would be held and goods traded, all in preparation for the coming Winter.
Source:
Lughnasadh was the time of the first harvest and a time of games, competitions, initiations and arbitration. It was and is associated with the Goddess of Sovereignty. The God Lugh was said to have originated this festival to celebrate the efforts of his foster mother Tailtiu to clear the fields of Ireland for planting. Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvests, though perhaps it ... marked the ending of the hay harvest. It was a festival that could last two weeks! Among its activities, couples could enter into a "trial marriage" known as a "Brehon wedding."
Source:
Bilberry Sunday and the following day Lughnasadh had other links to seasonal rites. Often, land tenure and rights of pasture were settled on the first of August and a new loaf from the first corn was baked. At some places, cattle were made to swim through streams and loughs into which lumps of butter had been cast to ensure the beasts would be healthy during the rest of the year.
Source:
The Celtic Quarter-Day festivals of Samhuinn, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh have an ancient history in both Scotland and the wider Celtic world. Visit the pages below to find out about their ancient history, the decline of these festivals in the 19th Century, and their re-establishment in recent times in Edinburgh and the rest of the world.
Source:
Lughnasadh (LOO-nah-sah) marks the beginning of the last quarter of the Celtic year. The festival is associated with the Irish god Lugh, or Samildanach, which means "he of many gifts". Lugh held funeral games in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu, the goddess of agriculture who died while clearing the Irish forests in preparation for planting. Lugnasadh is often called the "Tailltean Games". A common feature of the games were the "Tailltean marriages", rather informal and lasting only a year and a day or until next Lammas, at which time the couple would decide to continue the arrangement or stand back to back and walk away, thereby dissolving the marriage. Both festivals celebrate the fruits of the harvest with games and contests and a magnificent feast.
Source:
Lammas... called Lughnasadh, falls at the beginning of the harvest season. Apples are ready and grain is beginning to ripen. It's also a day for honoring Lugh, the Celtic craftsman god. Learn about traditions and rituals for celebrating this first of three Pagan harvest holidays.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Lughnasadh