Good Afternoon,
We find ourselves, this time of year, in the midst of the harvest season. We just celebrated Lughnasadh, the Celtic equivalent of Thanksgiving. A harvest festival and feast celebrating the first food harvest of the year. But some have asked about the name, Lughnasadh. An ancient Celtic name, it stands for 'Assembly of Lugh'. What it means is 'we have gathered in his name, the God Lugh'
But who was Lugh? Well, he is a great Celtic God. A god of the harvest, a god of light, war, and abundance and smith crafting.
Here is a brief story, or legend, about Lugh that comes from the Celtic people, a story telling people. I first heard this legend many years ago, so I will retell it to the best of my ability.
Once upon a time . . . as all good stories should start!, There was an evil God. He was cruel and merciless. His name was Balor. Balor had one eye, and enjoying bringing harm and misery to the good people of his land. One day he imprisoned twelve maidens in a cave, just because he could and he enjoyed their misery.
Along came a knight, a hero whose name has been lost to the mists of time. This knight sought to save and release the twelve maidens, but to the best laid plans . . . he impregnated them instead! There were twelve babies born and Balor heard about these babies and he came and took them and threw them all into the sea to drown out their little lives. Evil, cruel Balor!
One baby survived and came back upon the land, this baby was named Lugh. The rest of the children, it is said, became the ancestors of the merpeople, those who live in the sea.
Lugh eventually came to work for a smithy, or black smith. He worked very hard and became very good at working iron in the forge. One day Balor, hiss . . . boo . . . came along and started to brag to the black smith about all of his evil deeds and Lugh overheard and became enraged at the misery and suffering Balor had caused. Lugh took a long, iron pike, red hot at the end, and jammed it into his one, baleful eye thus causing the death of this evil God. This brought an end to the evil misery and suffering of the people and brought abundance, life and happiness to the land.
Lugh became known as Lugh Lavada, or 'Lugh of the Long Arm.' and he became a beloved God of the ancient Celtic people of Western Europe. He is worshipped at this time of year as we harvest the fields and bring the grains, fruits and vegetables, the abundance of nature and life to our tables, and we are grateful to him for this bounty.
That is simply one legend about Lugh. The great Celtic God, whom we remember this time of the year, when we celebrate Lughnasadh. I hope you enjoyed his story.
Peace and Happiness
© 2010-2013 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.
