Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh or Lammas is comming up in a couple of weeks. So here is a brief overview of what is going on with it. For ritual I would like everyone to bring something special that they can demonstrate how Lughnasadh makes them feel. It could be a sheaf of wheat or corn to illustrate the harvest. It could be a cornucopia to help in offering of a great harvest before winter. Let your imagination run away with you.

Lammas is a Neo-Pagan holiday, being a cross-quarter holiday between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and the Autumnal Equinox (Mabon). It is opposite Imbolc, which is celebrated on February 2nd in the northern hemisphere, and late July / early August in the southern hemisphere. Lammas takes place with the Sun near the midpoint of Leo in the tropical zodiac.

Lughnasadh was one of the four main festivals of the medieval Irish calendar: Imbolc at the beginning of February, Beltaine on the first of May, Lughnasadh in August and Samhain in October. One early Continental Celtic calendar was based on the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles, so the actual calendar date in ancient times may have varied.[citation needed] Lughnasadh marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends. Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings - trial marriages that would generally last a year and a day, with the option of ending the contract before the new year, or later formalizing it as a more permanent marriage