Lughnasadh...halfway between life and death

Lughnasadh, the sabat that occurs at or near the first of August, has always been my favorite. I think the reason might be is that it was one that I had begun to research after I had begun to consider myself an adherent of the old religions. Most  of the other sabats  have been absorbed or co-opted by the larger culture and its religion. Samhain, of course has become Halloween, first transformed into All Souls and All Saints Day as Hallowmas and later into the kids celebration of Halloween. The Winter Solstice, Yule, most famously is recognized as Christmas. Imbolc is not as big a deal, but we still have Groundhog Day associated with it. The Spring Equinox shares many attributes and is reasonably close to Easter, which isn't tied to a single calendar date like the rest, and May Day is recognized in some areas. Of the other three, two, Midsummer and the Autumnal Equinox are solar observances, which leaves Lughnassadh. For some reason I wasn't as curious about the solar dates, but back when I was in a Christian religious cult I had done some research on the non-solar, or cross-quarter days in order to highlight their "evil" pagan origins, giving sermons on the focus on death at Halloween and the centrality of the goddess on May Day. I had noted that a third day corresponded to May Day, but at the time was stumped as to the significance of the mirror date of Imbolc...what was going on at the beginning of August?

This blog entry isn't going to be an exhaustive study of the history and customs of Lughnasadh, but just a few thoughts on what it means to me. Historically it was a harvest festival, the first of several harvests in the ancient Celtic world. It was also a festival of games and sport, with many competitions in honor of Taltiu, the god Lugh's foster-mother.

To me, I look at it in the context of the other cross-quarter days. Samhain is a day to honor and reflect on the dead and our own mortality. Samhain's opposite, its complement, May Day or Beltane, is a day to celebrate fertility, virility, growth, birth...life itself. I view the other two as combinations of life and death. Imbolc is the stirring of life under the cold crust of ice and snow, life springing up despite the appearance of death; Lughnasadh on the other hand is the shadow of death lurking around the corner despite the appearance of vitality. Now I don't see this as depressing or dark, but more a wake up call to leave something behind, to make the world a little better than I found it, much like the death of a plant leaves the world richer in the form of the harvest.

That's how I view Lughnasadh, a reminder that it's not all about me, but what seeds that I plant will grow into and how they will be harvested...the future without...me.