The Gaelic harvest festival, held on 1 August or about halfway between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox. It is named for the god Lugh, and of the four quarter days it is the one still being kept: on Croagh Patrick, and in Killorglin, where a goat is crowned king.
What people did
Funeral games for a goddess A story about Tailtin says Lugh founded the festival as funeral games for his foster-mother Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for farming. She may have been an earth goddess standing for the dying vegetation that feeds people.
Climbing the hill Many of Ireland's prominent hills and mountains were climbed at Lughnasa. Some of those climbs were recast as Christian pilgrimages, and the best known is Reek Sunday, the pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday of July, which still draws tens of thousands.
Bilberries, and the names of the day Bilberries were gathered, and there was eating, drinking, dancing, music, matchmaking and contests: weight-throwing, hurling and horse racing. The day survived into the 20th century under several names — Garland Sunday, Bilberry Sunday, Mountain Sunday and Crom Dubh Sunday.
The first of the corn The first sheaf of the harvest was buried in some places. One reconstruction of the old festival has the first corn cut solemnly and offered by carrying it to a high place, a meal of the new food and of bilberries that everyone shares, and the sacrifice of a bull.
Trial marriages at Teltown At Tailtin young couples married by joining hands through a hole in a wooden door. The marriage lasted a year and a day, after which it could be made permanent or broken with no consequences for either.
Puck Fair Several fairs are thought to be survivals of Lughnasa, Puck Fair above all. It is held in early August in Killorglin, County Kerry, where a feral goat is brought into the town and crowned king, and a local girl is crowned queen, for three days.
Crom Dubh, and what the folklore did with Lugh
In the later folklore Lugh is usually replaced by St Patrick, and the god who guards the grain as his treasure becomes Crom Dubh, a pagan chief with a granary or a bull who opposes Patrick, is beaten and converts. Bull sacrifices at Lughnasa were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige, offered to Crom Dubh.
Quick answersWhat is Lughnasa?
The Gaelic festival that opens the harvest, on 1 August, named for the god Lugh. It was kept across Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man with gatherings, games, matchmaking, bilberry-picking and climbing hills. Lúnasa is still the Irish word for August.
Is Lughnasa still celebrated?
Yes, in two forms. Reek Sunday, the pilgrimage up Croagh Patrick on the last Sunday of July, draws tens of thousands, and Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry, crowns a goat as king each August. Several towns now hold Lughnasa festivals of their own.
Who was Tailtiu?
Lugh's foster-mother, who was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for farming. The festival is described as the funeral games he founded for her, and Teltown in County Meath carries her name.