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According to Irish Mythology and the pagan wheel of the year Lughnasadh was a Celtic holiday founded by the god Lugh as a funeral feast and athletic competition and Funeral games to commemorate the death of an earth goddess.
On the Celtic/ pagan calendar Lughnasadh is a holiday that coincides with Lammas celebrating the first harvest.
Both ancient celebrations are traditionally held on August 1st...
Other variations of the word are Lunasa, Luᵹ̇nasaḋ, Lughnasadh and Lughnasa.
In Modern Irish, the spelling is Lúnasa which is also the name for August, Mí Lúnasa (Month of August) and Lá Lúnasa (Day of Lúnasa). In Modern Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), the festival and the month are both called Lùnastal In Manx (Gaelg), the festival and the month are both called Luanistyn
The competition usually consist of multiple events including matchmaking, horse racing, hurling, trading and of course a large feast.
Originally religious rites included an offering of the First Fruit of the grain harvest, a feast of the new food, sacrificing a bull, ( no longer practiced) followed by a ritual dance.
Original festivals where held on top of hills, this tradition of climbing hills and mountains at Lughnasadh is still practiced in some areas and is recast as a Christian pilgrimage. The best known is the Reek Sunday pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday in July.
One custom Lughnasadh had in common with Imbolc and Beltane was visiting holy wells, specifically clootie wells. Visitors would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well; they would then leave offerings, usually coins or clooties. Although bonfires were lit at some of the open-air gatherings in Ireland, they were rare and not important to the celebrations itself.
Traditionally, the holiday was celebrated on the first day of August. Though after the christianization of Ireland most of the festivities where changed to the nearest Sundays – either the last Sunday in July or first Sunday in August.
Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans have observed Lughnasadh as a religious holiday. Other names for the festival are Mountain Sunday, Garland Sunday and Bilberry Sunday.
A common theme in the story of is the tragic fate of a woman who is carried off or held against her will, and later dies out of shame, exhaustion grief , or an unspecified natural cause.
Another version regarding the Lughnasadh site of Tailtin says the festival was founded by Lugh as funeral games in memory of his foster-mother tailtiu.
Folklore says she died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Tailtiu may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind. Another tale, about the assembly site of Nass,, says that Lugh founded the festival in memory of his two wives, the sisters Nas and Bói. One theory is that it was a mourning (or wake) for the end of summer. There are several different versions of it's origins.
Another goddess associated with Lughnasadh is Áine ..
She is an Irish Goddess of the Summer Solstice and of Lughnasadh who brings love, protection, fertility, wealth and sovereignty.
As a Moon Goddess she is the guardian of livestock, crops, and cattle and as a Sun Goddess, she takes the form of ‘Lair Derg’, The Red Mare so fast that no one can outrun. In this form she travels the country bringing blessings to everyone.
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