Today is the
ancient Celtic festival of the harvest, the first of three harvest festivals
including Mabon and Samhain. This day takes its name from the Irish god Lugh,
one of the Tuatha De Danann. Today is know as Lughnasadh is Ireland and Lunasdál in Scotland. However, Lughnasadh has
an older name, Brón Trogain.
This name refers to the pain that comes with childbirth, which is fitting
because this is the time of the year that the earth gives birth to the first of
her bounty.
The Lughnasadh
festival was started by Lugh as a feast dedicated to his foster-mother,
Tailtiu, who died from exhaustion after clearing a great forest in Ireland to
be cultivated and farmed. She told the men of Ireland on her death-bed to hold
games in her honor, and if they did so, Ireland would not be without song. That
is why it is not uncommon to have contests of strength and skill at this time.
Her name, which comes from the Celtic Talantiu or "The Great One of the
Earth", suggests that she was a personification of the land
itself. We honor her today for her sacrifice as well as the sacrifice of the
earth, because no harvest comes without a sacrifice.