Lughnasadh Research...Pagans please help!?

Question

I'm doing research for an article on Lughnasadh.
(NOT Lammas)
If you can answer any of the following questions, I'd really appriciate it!
1. what are the origins of the holiday?
2. what games are traditionally played?
3. What is traditionally done in rituals?
4. What are some good recipes?
5. what else can you tell me about the holiday?

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

From my understanding, there isn't much of a difference between the celebrations of Lammas and Lughnasadh, buuut...

1. what are the origins of the holiday?
*one of the four main festivals of the medieval Irish calendar
*marked the beginning of the harvest season, the ripening of first fruits, and was traditionally a time of community gatherings, market festivals, horse races and reunions with distant family and friends
*Among the Irish it was a favored time for handfastings
*In Celtic mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh, as a funeral feast and games commemorating his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. The first location of the Áenach Tailteann was at the site of modern Teltown, located between Navan and Kells.

2. what games are traditionally played?
Historically, the Áenach Tailteann gathering was a time for contests of strength and skill, and a favored time for contracting marriages and winter lodgings.
*Activities: games, country fairs, making corn dollies, baking bread, gathering fruits, visits to fields, orchards, lakes and wells.

3. What is traditionally done in rituals?
*bonfires and dancing
*http://www.geocities.com/eponasdreams/Lughrite1.html
*Offering thanks, honoring fathers, prosperity, abundance, generosity, continued success, connectedness

4. What are some good recipes?
*In the Northeastern United States, this is often the time of the blueberry harvest, while in the Pacific Northwest the blackberries are often the festival fruit.
*Some Neopagans mark the holiday by baking a figure of the god in bread, and then symbolically sacrificing and eating it.
*"Lammas" Recipes:
http://pythorium.com/?q=node/115
http://nightphoenix.covenspace.com/blog/2007/03/02/lammas_recipes
*Cook a nice meal, and include some form of bread.
*Breads, grains, potatoes, summer squash, cider, blackberry pies and jellies, berries, apples, roasted lamb, elderberry wine, meadowsweet tea

5. what else can you tell me about the holiday?
*"Pagan Thanksgiving"
*In Celtic Reconstructionism (CR), Lá Lúnasa is seen as a time to give thanks to the spirits and deities for the beginning of the harvest season, and to propitiate them with offerings and prayers to not harm the still-ripening crops. The god Lugh is honored by many at this time, as he is a deity of storms and lightning, especially the storms of late summer. However, gentle rain on the day of the festival is seen as his presence and his bestowing of blessings. Many CRs also honor the goddess Tailitu on this day, and may seek to keep the Cailleachan ("Storm Hags") from damaging the crops, much in the way appeals are made to Lugh.
*In Wicca, Lughnasadh is the first of the three autumn harvest festivals: One telling of the story commemorates the sacrifice and death of the Wiccan Corn God; in its cycle of death, nurturing the people, and rebirth, the corn is considered an aspect of their Sun God.
*Some Wiccans and other Neopagans also use the name Lammas for the sabbat, taken from the Anglo-Saxon and Christian holiday which occurs at about the same time. As the name (from the Anglo-Saxon hlafmæsse "loaf-mass", "loaves festival") implies, it is an agrarian-based festival and feast of thanksgiving for grain and bread, which symbolizes the first fruits of the harvest. Wiccan and other eclectic Neopagan rituals may incorporate elements from either festival.

Answer 2

Holy crow, first poster did an excellent job.

The asiya.org site was what I was going to send you. It has great information.

www.witchvox.com is also a good site, and you can do a search for lammas recipes if you need it.

Answer 3

A very good essay with a bilbiography at the end for further research:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/blackbirdhollins/articles/The%20Victory%20of%20Lugh.htm

Answer 4

Ska hippie has said it all - I need add nothing. (I just had to poke my nose in, that's all).