The first of the harvest is ready, and the hard work to collect it begins.  The threat of a bread famine – of not having sufficient grain to last – has past.  The last of that precious grain is baked into bread and brewed into ale to celebrate the new harvest.  Offerings of loaves of bread and ale, both made from the first of the new harvest, were made to thank the Gods for the good harvest to come.

Neo-Pagan celebrations for Lughnasadh primarily follow the idea of the death or sacrifice of the God, with his blood feeding the land, returning in the grain that feeds the people.

In Celtic lore, this festival is named after and sacrifices are made to Lugh Lamhfhada (Lugh Long Hand), but was in honor of his foster mother, Tailitu.  Tailitu was a royal Lady of the Fir Bolg, possibly the Queen. After the defeat of her people, she was obliged by them to clear a vast forest for the purpose of planting grain and died during the task.  She was buried within a very large mound, upon which the first Lughnasadh festival, also known as the ‘Tailltean Games’, was held.  Contests of skills, games, and feasts of the first harvest (wild and cultivated) were activities that made up this event

It seems logical that as time passed, the activities would alter from honoring Tailitu and her sacrifice to include the work and sacrifices of those who provided the food for the community.

From the research that I had to do on this festival (not having really ever celebrated it before) I can not help but see this echoed in our current County Fairs that happen in the late summer early autumn time and remember with fondness the number of times I went as a child.  Maybe I need to continue to go – to remember.  To celebrate the sacrifices made so that we humans can live. (320 words)