Lughnasadh

The first fruits.

Lughnasadh is the first of the celtic harvest festivals. Traditionaly it celebrated the first cutting of the corn. It's a celebration of life in its fullness and honoring the earth for the richness she provides as well as the celtic god Lugh.
Lugh was a poet, silversmith, healer, warrior, magician and blacksmith as well as representing the harvest, light, fire and the sun. In Irish legend Lugh was the son of the Tuatha dé Danann. He was also called 'equally skilled in the arts' or 'the shining one with the skillful hand'.
This is a time of commencing the gathering of the harvest. Barley was one of the first crops to be cultivated in Britain and the old song John Barleycorn celebrates this festival.
Lughnasadh is the turning point in the life cycle. The first signs of a successful partnership between the Earth and the Sun can be seen. There is an intimate connection between the fertility of the land and that of human life. The goddess begins to age and her work of ripening life is done. Now the spirit of the grain is cut down and the seeds scattered. It may seem sad but the death of the god must take place so that life may go on. The theme of sacrifice is important at this time.
People would celebrate this festival of the masculine, which sits opposite of the feminine festival Belatine, with games and feasting. Lughnasadh literally means ' the games of Lugh'. Huge fires would be lit in honor of Lugh. Many of these games continued until the Norman Conquest and the arrival of christianity when this festival became better known as Lammas day! (loaf-day!). A loaf made from the first ripe grain would be taken to church to be blessed. Also at this time of year people would make corn dollies with the last remaining piece of corn which would be placed above the hearth.

This is a time of completion, achievement and reaping. Transformation and contentment. It is a time of rejoicing but also of preparation for the time ahead. Druids celebrate this festival on August the 8th where masculine energy is honored along with the natural cycle of death and rebirth. I've been out collecting crab apples and grasses for decoration and busy making Sun-dried tomato bread......yummmm!!!!!

John Barleycorn

There came three men from out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try,
As they had sworn a solemn oath,
John Barleycorn must die.
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Throwed clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barelycorn was dead.

Then they let him lie for a very long time
'Til the rain from the sky did fall,
Then little Sir John sprung up his head,
And soon amazed them all.
They let him stand 'til midsummer
Till he looked both pale and wan,
And little Sir John he growed a beared
And so became a man.

They hired men with scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee.
They rolled him and tied him by the waist,
and served him most barbarously.
They hired men with pitchforks
Who pricked him in the heart,
And the loader he served him worse than that,
For he bound him to the cart.

They wheeled him round and round the field
'Til they came unto a barn.
And there they made a solemn mow
Of poor John Barleycorn.
They hired men with crab tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller he served him worse than that,
For he ground him between two stones.

Here's little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl,
And brandy in a glass;
And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest to the last.
And the huntsman he can't hunt the fox,
Nor so loudly blow the horn,
And the tinker he can't mend kettles or pots
without a little of barleycorn.