Lughnasadh: A Year’s Ripening | August Writing Prompt
“The brilliant poppy flaunts her head
Amidst the ripening grain, lammas day
And adds her voice to sell the song
That August’s here again.”
Here in Ireland, the August full moon (1 Aug) is celebrated as the Gaelic festival of Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-na-sah), one of the four quarter-cross days and traditional fire festivals of the Celtic calendar, heralding the beginning of a new season, along with Imbolc (1 Feb), Bealtaine (1 May) and Samhain (1 Nov).
Lughnasadh marks the half way point between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, and is named for the Irish god, Lugh — one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural race of Irish mythology. Although the harvest festival is named for Lugh, it was held in honour of his foster-mother, the earth goddess Tailtiu, who is said to have died of exhaustion clearing the plains of Ireland to make way for the planting of crops and the harvesting of the land.
The celebration of Lughnasadh is thought to have originated as a pagan rite in the Ancient Celtic religion, with the most famous of these being the Tailteann Games. Held between the 6th and 9th centuries AD, the event served three main functions – honoring the dead, proclaiming laws, and festivities to entertain — with songs, bonfires, bardic proclamations and tests of mental and physical prowess.
The Games included all manner of sports contests, as well as competitions in strategy, singing, dancing, storytelling, and craftmanship. Trial marriages were conducted in mass ‘handfasting’ ceremonies, where couples met for the first time and were given up to a year and a day to divorce on the hills of separation, under Brehon law.
The rites may also have included an offering of the ‘First Fruits’ of the new harvest, a tradition also found in Classical Greek and Roman cultures. Modern day remnants of the Ancient Lughnasadh festivities can be found in the Garland or Reek Sunday pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick mountain in Co. Mayo, and the raucous Puck Fair in Co. Kerry.
In Old English, the first day of August was Lammas Day, a contraction of Loaf Mass, a religious ritual blessing the first fruits. In North American First Nation culture, the August full moon is the Sturgeon Moon – so called because it’s the time of year when the sturgeon rise to the surface of the Great Lakes.
Today’s prompt invites you to explore any of the ideas, practices or rituals associated with Lughnasadh, August, fecundity and harvest-time. Think of the rich harvest colours, the sight of a golden field of corn or the scent of fruit ripe on the bough, hedgerow or vine.
What does the word harvest mean to you? Do you have personal experience of bringing in the harvesting, fruit-picking or the like? Are you a farmer, a forager or just green-fingered? What seasonal fruit, vegetables or produce due you enjoy at this time of year?
Perhaps you’d like to consider the issue of human fertility and fecundity, and the worrying ideas being expressed around reproduction as part of the political rhetoric of these times?
Or think about your own productivity. What harvest have you already brought to fruition in 2024? What bounty do you still hope to reap by this year’s end?
Inspiration
Today's inspiration comes from the section 'Sturgeon Moon', in Franny Choi's longer prose poem 'Perhelion: A History of Touch':
Read the full sequence here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/144599/perihelion-a-history-of-touch
Sophie Jewett captures the voluptuousness of late summer in 'In Harvest':
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46772/in-harvest
And exploring the duality of life, here's Tess Taylor's 'Bright Tide' (CW: mentions miscarriage):
Musical Interlude
The Poetry & Writing Submissions List
The August edition of the submissions list is now up on the blog with over 160 opportunities for writers and artists, open of with deadlines this month.
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What I’m Reading:
Ambush at Still Lake by Caroline Bird
The Process of Poetry by Rosanna McGlone (ed.)
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
