Good Evening,
Lughnasa. Translation: "The Games of Lugh" The ancient pagans celebrated a thanksgiving feast around the first food harvest, which is traditionally held on August 1st.
Lugh was a God of war, light, and the harvest for the ancient Celts. In ancient times when the men and boys were off waging war to defend their territory and boundaries from warring invaders, and the women and elderly were left running the tribes, clans and villages, this was known as a matriarchal-run society. These were an agricultural farming people, the Celts. Yet they were known to fight when their land and people were threatened. All across Europe, cultures sent to war their men and strong boys to protect their lands. And, all across Europe, when the harvest was upon them and the food needed to be brought in from the fields, everyone declared a cease fire and all went back to their farms and villages to bring the harvest in. If this wasn't done, there would have been nothing and no one left to go back to.
Even so, when the harvest was in, the men and boys still practiced and engaged in war games to keep up their fighting form. They would hold, what we could call the forerunner of the ancient Greeks Olympic Games. Feasting, giving thanks for the bountiful harvest was also an important part of this Sabbat celebration.
Lughnasa is right around the corner. At Enchantments this is our Thanksgiving Sabbat. At Enchantments we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving Lughnasa ritual and feast on Saturday August 4th at 11 am. We will have a Sabbat ritual first and then follow it up with a Thanksgiving feast.
For this holiday we celebrate the spirit of the harvest, with foods to commemorate the harvest season.
We will have rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, pies, bread and stuffing. If you will be attending please contact Enchantments to find out what we will need for the feast. It is pot luck with everyone bringing a dish to share, and typically we encourage people to bring what they like, but for our Thanksgiving celebration we try to stick to a specific menu.
It would be wonderful if you could make it! I hope to see you there. And remember this Sabbat will start at 11 am.
© 2010-2012 Faith M. McCann. Portions of this blog posting may include materials from my book “Enchantments School for the Magickal Arts First Year Magickal Studies.” For more information, see www.enchantmentsschool.com or go to the title of tonight's discussion and click, it will link you to my school's website. Please note that the copying and/or further distribution of this work without express written permission is prohibited.
If you know someone who would like my work, please send them this link. If you or they would like to be included on our daily email distribution list send me an e mail with your email address to be included. If you ever wish to unsubscribe to this blog, please contact me and you will be immediately removed from our list.
