The Origins Of Lughnasadh

Horse Sacrifices, Funeral Feasts and the Celtic Head Cult.

Lughnasadh, also known as Lugnasa, Lughnasa, Lunasa, Lla Lluanys (Isle of Man) and Gwyl Awst (Wales; meaning August Feast) is an Old Irish festival that celebrates the gathering of the first harvest of the year and is named after one of the most prominent deities in Medieval Irish literature. The name Lughnasadh is a combination of the Celtic god ‘Lugh’ and ‘nasadh’ meaning tribal assembly. In Ireland, the feast was sometimes called Bron Trogain (Trogain’s Sorrow) which may point to a much older festival. 

The etymology of the name ‘Lugh’ comes from the Proto Indo European root ‘lewgh’ meaning to bind by oath, so it is possible that Lugh may have been a god of oaths, contracts and law. It is no longer accepted that his name comes from the Proto Indo European root ‘leuk’ meaning ‘flashing light’. The belief that he was a sun god only began in the Victorian era. Lugh’s Irish name is ‘Ildanach’ which means ‘the many skilled’. His Gaulish name ‘Lugus’ can mean ‘raven’ but British archaeologist and academic Miranda Green says that there is a dubious connection between Lugh and these birds. The Romans associated Lugh with the god Mercury and the ancient Welsh had a god called Llew Llaw Gyffes. British archaeologist and academic Barry Cunliffe believes the Gaulish god Esus was the same as Lugh. Male deities are not often depicted in triple form, however, inscriptions and reliefs found in Spain, France and Switzerland as well as dedications to the ‘Lugoves’ may well refer to a triple form of Lugh. 

A triple face Lugus from Reims in France.

Having a harvest festival named after him, one would believe that Lugh was a solar or agricultural god but this is not the case at all. Lugh was known as the ‘many skilled’ god and his cult spread across Europe with many places being named after him. The Roman cities of Carlisle (its earliest name is Luguvalium meaning ‘strong in the god Lugos’) in Wales, Lyons (the alleged site of Lugh’s fortress) in France, Leiden in the Netherlands, Liegnitz in Germany and Lugo in Spain are some examples. The Celts, being more than one people, venerated many deities with almost all of them being associated with local landmarks such as springs or groves. Lugh was an exception. Numerous inscriptions and statues dedicated to Lugh have been unearthed as far as southern Spain.  It is very possible that he was brought to Ireland by Celtic peoples migrating from the continent.

Lughnasadh was the celebration of the coming harvest and July was a time of petitioning the gods for protection against storms and heavy rain which risked destroying the crops. Springs, wells and lakes played an important role during this festival for purification rites and sacrificial offerings. Horse racing was said to have been an invention of Lugh’s and took place both in and out of the water. An extremely dangerous sport, it was practiced during Lughnasadh, with the men risking being killed by chariot or horse. It appears that horses may have also been ritually drowned during the festival. In the Dindsenchas (a collection of Irish sagas that served to explain place-names) Lug drowns his horses in a loch. It does not explain why he did this, but it does resemble a sacrifice. Apart from sports, Lughnasadh was a time of tribal gatherings, feasting and retellings of tribal lore. The feast of the Emperor Augustus and the Capitoline Triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva) was celebrated at this time too, eventually replacing Lughnasadh. By doing this, Augustus equated himself with Lugh.

The Corleck Head, which is tripled face, is dated to around the first century AD. It was discovered in County Cavan, Ireland at a site that had celebrated Lughnasadh for thousands of years. It is connected to the Celtic Head Cult.

Maire MacNeill’s study called ‘The Festival Of Lughnasa: A Study Of The Survival Of The Celtic Festival Of The Beginning Of Harvest (1962) explores Medieval literature and folklore. She discovered that the practice of cutting the first corn and offering a part of it to a deity was done in a high place and by burying it. She also found that there would have been a sacrificial ceremony whereby a bull was symbolically replaced by a young bull and that ritual dances and plays were also enacted. Anne Ross in her book ‘Druids’ says that MacNeill believed that the Celtic Cult of the Head played an important role during the Lughnasadh gatherings. Stone heads would be placed on top of sacred mounds and replicated real human heads; a relic of a human sacrifice. MacNeill believed that there was a connection between Lugh and the Head Cult.

The celebration of Lughnasadh began a fortnight before the full moon of August and ended a fortnight afterwards (please read my previous post on the Celtic wheel of the year to understand the historical time keeping of the Celtic peoples). After the introduction of the Julian Calendar, festival timings became fixed. For Lughnasadh, this was 1st of August. In Medieval times the festival was also known as ‘Lammas’ which originates from the Christian Anglo Saxon word 'hlafmaess' meaning ‘loaf-mass' due to the first wheat being made into a ritual loaf. The first cereals were baked into bread and after being blessed at church the loaf was broken into four pieces and placed in each corner of the grain barn to protect the harvest. The Germanic tribes settling in England adopted this harvest festival from the Celtic peoples as they had no equivalent themselves. The harvest festival was known as the ‘Gule of August’ in Medieval times, a possible Anglicisation of ‘gwyl’. As traditions evolved, Lughnasadh became a time of fairs, rent collection, local elections and the opening of common land. 

The Tuatha De Danann depicted in John Duncan’s ‘Riders of the Sidhe’ (1911)

According to Irish myth, Lugh is the grandson of a Fomorian called Balor of the Evil Eye. The Fomorians are a nightmarish race of people from the sea and are enemies of the Tuatha de Danann, gods who possess magical powers. One day, Balor learns of a prophecy that foretells his own death by the hands of his future grandson. On hearing this news he imprisons his daughter Eithne inside a tower on Tory Island so that she can never have children. Nevertheless, Cian, the son of Dian Cecht of the Tuatha de Danann, succeeds in tracking Eithne down and seduces her. Eithne gives birth to three boys who are thrown into the sea to drown by a servant of Balor. Miraculously, Lugh is rescued by a blacksmith who raises him as his own.

Lugh is well renowned to have mastered many of the arts including healing, magic, carpentry, metalwork, warfare, prophecy, music and poetry. One story tells of a time when Lugh is refused entry to Tara, the capital of the Tuatha De Danann and its king Nuada. In response to this refusal he begins to recite a long list of his abilities, but to no avail. The guard at the gates continues to refuse him entry even after patiently listening to all of Lugh's incredible talents. "We have someone here who can do that," the guard replies. Finally, a very quick witted and determined Lugh asks, "But do you have someone here that can do all of these things?" The king is so taken aback by Lugh's multitude of skills that he offers up his throne to him for thirteen days. Joining forces against the Formorians, Lugh of the Long Arm, ‘Lugh Lamhfada’, referring to his skill of spear throwing and sling-shot, goes on to kill his grandfather at the Battle of Moytura. This victory secures the country of Ireland and ensures its peace and prosperity. There are numerous tales about Lugh and one book I recommend is Charles Squire’s ‘Celtic Myth And Legend’.

The Book of Invasions, which chronicles the early history of Ireland, tells us that Lugh became associated with the harvest after he holds a funeral feast and games in honour of his foster mother Tailtiu. The 9th century Irish glossary called the Sanas Cormaic (the wisdom of Cormaic) says that ‘Lugh the son of Ethle held an assembly at the beginning of the harvest. Fostering was an important part of Celtic society where lesser nobles’ sons were sent to live with more powerful nobles. During their fostering, the young men would be taught the skill of warfare. Fostering gave the more powerful nobleman control over the lesser nobleman. Close bonds were created between the foster father and his young wards.

There is another Lughnasadh origin story that describes how Lugh founded the harvest festival for his wives Nas and Bui. Interestingly in Irish lore, it is said that a man called Lugos, a newcomer to Ireland, introduced the skills of planting and sowing crops to the people. 

The Stone of Destiny on the Hill of Tara. The coronation stone for the High King of Ireland.

In Irish myth, Tailtiu, whose name likely comes from ‘Talantiu’ meaning 'the great one of the earth', lives on the magical hill of Tara and is the daughter of Firbolg, the King of the Great Plain. Tailtiu is said to have died from exhaustion after clearing the forest of Breg so that her people could grow food and avoid starvation. It takes a whole month for her to create the plain of Oenach Tailten before she dies. 

The funeral games in her honour were called the Oenach Tailten and took place at Tailtin in what is now County Meath, Ireland. It is said that Tailtiu asked Lugh to hold these games every harvest so that each home would forever have corn and milk. These Olympic style games lasted several days along with trading, marriage arrangements and the signing of contracts. Trial marriages were also conducted at this time whereby young couples would join hands through a hole in a wooden door. These Teltown marriages that enacted the marriage of Lugh to the goddess Eire (after which Ireland is named) lasted a year and a day. After this time the couple could go on to marry or else go their separate ways. In the Book of Invasions it says, ‘Her funeral games were held by Lug every year, a fortnight before Lugnasad and a fortnight after Lugnasad.’ These customs disappeared after the arrival of the Normans. 

An interesting point worth mentioning before I finish is that Ronald Hutton believes that Lughnasadh is not associated with Lugh at all. He finds it odd that none of the other Irish festivals are ‘named’ after a deity, only this one.

I hope that you enjoyed this latest instalment of the historical ‘Celtic’ Wheel of the Year. My next posts will be about Old English harvest traditions from the past several hundred years.

Brightest blessings,

Elissa

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• The Celtic Heroic Age edited by John T. Koch (2003)

• Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts by Anne Ross (1970)

• The British Celts and their Gods under Rome by Graham Webster 1986)

• The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe (1997)

• Celtic Myths by Miranda Jane Green (2000)

• The Celtic World edited by Miranda J. Green (1996)

• Celtic Myth And Legend by Charles Squire (2003)

• Dictionary of Celtic Religion And Culture by Bernhard Maier (1997)

• The Celtic Tradition by Caitlin Mathews (1995)

• Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton (2001)