In 2010, Lughnasadh fell at the beginning of February in the Southern Hemisphere. (To see the Southern Wheel of the Year, click label at end of post.)
Other names for this festival are First Fruits, Lammas or Loaf Mass. It is the first of the three harvest festivals of the Southern Wheel.
Lughnasadh is about the grain harvest. I grew up in Western Australia and the word Lughnasadh brings up a strong image for me of the endless flat lands of the wheatfields there and the ripening heads of wheat rippling in the wind.
In the place I live now, the NSW Central Coast, which is on the other side of Australia, there is a lot of storm activity at Lughnasadh.
The wheatfields are the golden grain harvest of the European-based Southern Wheel and the storm season is the god of thunder and lightning, the warrior/striker/inseminator god.
These images combine in my mind to form a picture of the thunder god coming at the harvest to make the paddocks (fields) fertile again ready for the spring planting.
(The other strong image I have of Lughnasadh is that of the very first circle I ever went to and my introduction to Neo-paganism. It was four years ago now and Lughnasadh is the anniversary of my becoming a Neo-pagan.)
This year the Full Moon fell on the 30th of January and I decided to have my private Lughnasadh on that night.
I lit a candle for the Goddess as the Full Moon and a candle for the God in the dark half of the year. I talked to the local gods, as I always do, telling them who I am (where my ancestors come from and where I grew up) and what I was doing, I talked to my ancestral gods, the European and British gods, and to my own ancestors.
I ate some multi-grain bread and put out some seeds for the birds then sang 'We all come...'. I have been rather unwell lately and went back to bed after that.
It's hard to say whether my rituals and festival observances are becoming so informal and low-key because that's what I want or because of all the illness and family issues in my life lately. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I am happy with the way they are going.
The next festival on the Wuruma Wheel of the Year is Wuruma Lughnasadh, falling around the 21st Feb in 2010.
The next festival on the Southern Wheel is Autumnal Equinox, falling on the 21st of March in 2010.
Wuruma Wheel of the Year
Southern Wheel of the Year
