The words “Lughnasadh” (pronounced LOO-nah-sah) and “Lammas” are often used interchangeably, but they are actually two different festivals of different origin (well, sort of! you’ll see!)
History of Lughnasadh
Lughnasadh, also known as ‘The Festival of Bread’, ‘The First Harvest’, ‘Lugh’s Feast’, or ‘Festival of First Fruits‘ is in reference to the Celtic harvest holiday typically held on August 1st (Sometimes August 2nd!)
‘Nasadh’ means ‘to give in marriage’, So Lughnasadh translates as “to give in marriage to Lugh”; Lugh being the Celtic God of artistry, known for his many skills, including craftsmanship, and warrior ability. He’s also known as the Sun King, Storm, Light, and Harvest God.
Lughnasadh is one of the four Celtic holidays, along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Beltane. Wiccans celebrate Lughnasadh as one of eight sabbats that make up the wheel of the year calendar. In Dianic traditions, the Goddess takes the place of Lugh. (**Note: You can celebrate the year of the wheel calendar, and not be Wiccan, and still be a witch! or not use the calendar at all, and still be a witch! depends on your practice, which holidays you chose to celebrate! You don’t have to be Wiccan to use the wheel of the year. Everyone’s practice is different!)
In legend, Lughnasadh began when the God Lugh held a harvest festival to commemorate his foster mother, Tailtiu, (Said to be responsible for introducing agriculture to Ireland), who died of exhaustion attempting to harvest all of the crops in Ireland (I’ve also read it as, “died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture” little different depending on version you read.)
Lugh’s original festival was made up of feasting, hill/mountain climbing, giving/burying offerings on top of hills, games and athletic contests. Marriages and trial marriages (handfastings) were conducted, where couples would join hands through a hole in wooden door, and if the marriage lasted ‘a year and a day’ the marriage could be made permanent or annulled without consequence (Ancient Celtic engagement period!)
At Lughnasadh, we give thanks for what the summer has grown, and the harvest has brought us. We begin to gather and prep food to survive the winter. We celebrate and give thanks for the abundance of not just food in our lives, but love, happiness, and safety. Lughnasadh is the time to look at our lives from an agricultural perspective. What have we planted? What are we reaping? What needs to be picked, watered, or preserved? We harvest our lives, as we do our fields and plants, so that we may live in abundance.
History of Lammas
“Lammas” translates to ‘loaf mass’ (from ‘hlaf-mas’ in Anglo Saxon) and it’s a Christian holiday from medieval England that celebrated the wheat harvest, it’ s also called “The Feast of Bread”.
(Yes this is another one of those ‘Pagans had the holiday first and Christianity put something similar on top of it to convert heathens’ history lessons! That’s why I said sort of! Same concept, different names, different beliefs and people)
Early Christians celebrated this holiday as a way to thank God for the harvest. On this day it was custom to bring the church the first loaf of bread baked from the harvest, to have it blessed, and then broken into four pieces, one to place in each corner of your barn to protect your grain. (sounds witchy doesn’t it?)
August 1st in Christian/Catholic tradition is also the holy-day of “St. Peter in Chains”
To summarize...
So as you can see, both holidays have the same meaning really; (grain holiday, harvest holiday, abundance, offer the first of your bounty for protection and wishes, thankfulness) just with different Gods and beliefs! Of course Lughnasadh came first, then as with all our holidays, Christianity came in and ‘wanted to ‘convert the heathens’ so we were given new holidays on top of ours that look very similar, but I suppose the ‘long list of stolen holidays’ post is for another time! haha!
Catch my next Lughnasadh blog post for more information and how to celebrate! I’ve split this into two posts for easier reading! ;)
I’m also making a ‘Lughnasadh’ Instagram story highlight before the 1st so I can add even more info and activities to do! Come say hello! @selfcarewitchxo
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