Lugh, God of Oaths and Vows
In my deity guide for him, I mentioned that Lugh, amongst other things, is the god of oaths and vows
Recently someone messaged me and asked:
Hi there. I found your Lugh post from back in January. Thank you for posting such a wonderfully thorough discussion on Lugh. I was wondering in your research, upg, or general knowledge if you knew of any myths regarding Lugh renewing his vows or something to that extent and thus why the renewal of vows and/or the making of oaths is done at Lughnasadh?
So I did some digging.
During the festival of Lughnasadh legal matters were discussed, an óenach was held and trial marriages began.
There are plenty of sources that state that Lugh is associated with oaths and promises, though not all of them explain why.
Some suggest that that the names given to the god throughout the Gaelic-Celtic cultures gives us clues indicating that Lugh is the god of oaths.
Such examples being:
The welsh name for the god, Llew, likely comes from the Welsh word “llw” which means “an oath”.
As well, the Irish name for the god, Lug or Lugh, may come from the Old Irish word “luige” or “luge” which means “oath” or “swearing”. If this is the case, then the name Lugus, another name given to the god, might mean “God of Vows”/“God of Oaths”.
The best source I’ve found for this information is in the book The Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans by Garrett Olmsted (particularly page 110); Olmsted also has quite a few sources in his book.
As you mentioned, I have read a few sources stating that some people believe that the story behind the holiday of Lughnasadh is one of Lugh renewing his vows to his wives. I haven’t, however, been able to find any evidence of this in the history of the holiday.
It could be that because legal dealings are held on Lughnasadh, the mythos sort of picked that up through time.
If anyone knows of a source or sources that can otherwise explain why the story of Lugh renewing vows came about please send it my way!