The festival of the first fruits of the harvest is an ancient festival. Its celebration in modern Judaism continues as Shavuot at the end of May (reflecting the earlier harvest in Israel). The festival now also commemorates the giving of the Torah to Moses from Mount Sinai.
In Ireland the festival of the first fruits has been celebrated has been celebrated around the beginning of August from ancient times as Lughnasadh. The name Lughnasadh means ‘mourning of Lugh’ and refers to the funerary games held in honour of Lugh’s foster mother, Tailtiu, who legend tell us died clearing the forest for agriculture. Large gatherings were held at Teltown in County Meath from the days of the High Kings of Ireland until the 1700s. According to Irish legend, Teltown was the burial-place of Tailtiu, who was queen of the last king of the Fir Bolg, a mythical race of giants. Her name probably derives from Talantiu, ‘The Great One of the Earth.’ Tailtiu cleared a great forest to form what is today the county of Meath, in which lies some of Ireland’s richest farmland. She collapsed from exhaustion, and as she lay dying, she asked Lugh to hold funeral games every August in her honour. As long as they were held, she prophesied that there would be ‘corn and milk in every house, peace and fair weather’ for the feast.
The god Lugh was known as Samildanach, the Many-Skilled One, who taught his tribe many things, including the secrets in agriculture. Another name for him was Lugh Lamhfhada, Lugh of the Long Arm. Victorian scholars thought this referred to the rays of the sun and saw him as a solar god, but nowadays it is thought more likely that his name derives from ‘lugio’ the old Celtic word for ‘oath’ as was the god of social contracts. His long arm probably refers to his skill with weapons. The Romans equated him with Mercury, the inventor of all arts. He is also part of other Celitic pantheons, such as those of Wales and Gaul. The festival of Lughnasadh was also widely observed in Scotland and the Isle of Man. These gatherings included games, trading, horse-racing, the arranging of marriages, political business and the settling of legal matters.
With the coming of Christianity, in Saxon times, the early August festival became Lammas, from the Old English for loaf-mass, when a loaf made from the first ripe grain was taken to church to be consecrated upon the altar. The great gatherings were reduced to a weekend festival so that working people could take the time away from the fields to enjoy fairs where farm-hands were hired for the upcoming harvest and livestock was traded.
How can this festival be meaningful for us today?
Most of us now do our grocery shopping at the supermarket and we may not feel a strong connection to the land and harvest as the source of our food, but by thinking about where our food comes from and making conscious choices about what we eat, we can express our thanks to the earth for its fruits. We can try to live lightly on the earth and to share our ideas and enthusiasm, inspiring others to move towards a more holistic lifestyle, working together for the good of all people and the earth.
The festival theme of gratitude for abundance is relevant to our whole lives, not just our food and the harvest. Pausing to give thanks for our blessings encourages our generosity of spirit. As everything is connected, the more we give from our hearts, the more returns to us.
The beginning of the harvest reminds us that the seasons are changing and summer will not last for ever. We may no longer celebrate with great clan gatherings, but perhaps we can gather at festivals and community events or visit friends, taking pride in our communities growing closer together and appreciating our place in the wider world. We may be able to make time to walk the land and appreciate the beauty of the natural world, to treasure the gifts of flowers and to take in the warming rays of the sun, storing their power for darker times to come.
Gathering the crops takes work – we must give our time and energy – and this is the case in our whole lives, not just the fields. Another theme of Lughnasadh is sacrifice and rebirth. The life energy of the Sun is sacrificed as the corn, some of which is reborn as bread and some of which is kept as the seeds of next year’s crop. Sacrifice is an uncomfortable word for me so I found it difficult to connect this aspect of the festival, until I came across this description from the Lughnasadh ceremony of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids:
“Here we come to know the paradoxical nature of sacrifice: that in letting go, we receive – that the harvest is both a time of death, but also a time of reaping rewards, of achievement. Sacrifice, understood in this way, is seen as a letting go or giving up of something in order to move to a higher, deeper, more creative level. The corn, in being sacrificed at harvest time, is transformed into bread. Seen as such, Lughnasadh becomes a Festival of Transformation.”
Letting go to achieve transformation is I feel a helpful process, both in our individual lives and in our relationship with the earth. As the season of active outer growth comes to an end and the season of inner reflection begins, it can be a good time to pause and reflect on our lives, to reassess our long term goals. Are the seeds of ideas we planted in the spring coming to fruition? Are we making progress with projects and seeing the fruits of our labour? Are there any sacrifices we need to make, things we need to let go of, to alleviate any damage?
Our world is constantly changing and humanity’s survival as a species has been dependent on our ability to adapt to changes, to let old habits go and embrace new ways forward. Let us celebrate what we choose to change and in what ways we have grown this summer.
Taking a wider view of our relationship with the earth, humanity will be required to adapt and make sacrifices in order to continue feeding ourselves, for the earth is not able to sustain our current rate of consumption. Agriculture has allowed us to be fruitful and multiply, and now our sheer numbers are overwhelming the planet. We have destroyed rainforests and driven many creatures to extinction with pesticides in order to feed ourselves. Droughts and floods are increasing as the climate crisis worsens, often destroying crops in the poorest parts of the world. The time is ripe to consider what we would give to ensure the necessary transformation so that there is a sustainable and fair harvest for all, throughout the world.
For many generations, the festival of the grain harvest has allowed us to see the bigger picture, to connect with the great cycles of life, death and rebirth, symbolised in the humble seed of grain. Let us hope and pray that we will do so for many generations to come.
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