Lughnasa, held on 1st August, is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. In England it is known as Lammas and in Wales, Gwyl Awst. The festival marks the beginning of harvesting. In Ireland the festival celebrates the god Lugh, and a central custom to the celebration is a recreation of his seizure of the harvest from Crom Dubh who guards it to keep the grain from mankind. It was usual to climb a hill or mountain at Lughnasa and perform the rituals there. This custom was adopted by the Church as a day of pilgrimage, the most well-known being Reek Sunday, a pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick.
In England, the 1st August is Lammas which derives from the Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas (loaf-mass), named to acknowledge the importance of the harvest in providing the cereal crops for breadmaking. The Church adopted the festival, and the custom of bringing a loaf of bread made with the newly-harvested wheat into the church to be blessed became widespread.
The significance of these harvest festivals (Lughnasa and Lammas) is not only that the cereal harvested would feed the community throughout the coming winter but that it would provide the seeds to sow in the spring, for the harvest the following year, thus maintaining its survival. They are therefore festivals of death (the cutting of the corn) and rebirth (the sowing of the seeds of what has been cut or killed).
Of course, another use for cereal crops is the making of beer (and, in Scotland, whisky). The Ballad of John Barleycorn is a folk song that encapsulates the life and death journey of wheat:
There were three men came out of the West
Their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn must dieThey've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn was deadThey've let him lie for a very long time
Till the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head
And so amazed them allThey've let him stand till Midsummer's Day
Till he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard
And so become a manThey've hired men with the scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way
Serving him most barbarouslyThey've hired men with the sharp pitchforks
Who pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cartThey've wheeled him around and around the field
Till they came unto a barn
And there they made a solemn oath
On poor John BarleycornThey've hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stonesAnd little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
And his brandy in the glass;
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at lastThe huntsman, he can't hunt the fox
Nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot
Without a little Barleycorn
In Ireland Lughnasa involves the lighting of bonfires, preferably on high ground. If you are able to access high ground (I live near a park with hills) then ideally you should light your bonfire on as high a spot as you can find and perform the following rituals there. However, it’s likely that this won’t be allowed in a public space.
At the first harvest the first corn would be ceremonially cut, taken to a high place, and buried, to auger the next harvest and the continuation of the community. If you live near a field of wheat and can sneakily cut a stalk then you could take a stalk of wheat that you have acquired to make your corn dollies and bury that. Stalks of wheat are impossible to find in cities but they are available online.
At harvest time the last sheaf of wheat would also be ceremonially cut and made into a corn dolly, which would be carried to the village and placed at the head of the feasting tables. Each household would make its own corn dolly to hang above the fireplace until the next harvest.
If you are inviting guests to join in the festival, then either cut a sheaf of wheat from a local field or buy some wheat stalks so that each guest can make their own corn dolly. There are very good instructions for making corn dollies on Youtube.
At Lughnasa celebrations, a ritual dance is enacted representing the fight between Lugh and Crom Dubh. A simple way of enacting this fight is to have a tug of war. Divide your guests into two groups, one representing Lugh and the other Crom Dubh and provide them with a thick rope which they can then tug in opposition to each other. Hopefully the Lugh team will win!
This custom represents the gathering in of the harvest to bring sustenance and good fortune to each home. Decorate a broom with ribbons and, holding it tight, turn slowly three times in a clockwise direction and start to sweep towards an open door saying:
By one, two, three and four, sweep Lammas gifts to my door. May abundance be a constant friend, by my hearth till Winter's end.
Repeat this three times, then take the broom back into the house and put it in its usual place.
As a central decoration to your feast create an altar displaying grains, corn dollies, loaves of bread, fruit and flowers.
