Lugh and the Lunasa Festival
THE festival of Lunasa is intricately tied to the ancient Celtic god called Lugh, a principal deity of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the all-round genius and multi-skilled god of light, ‘a sun god in nature both Gaulish and Gaelic’, the son of Cian and Eithliu. Amongst the practitioners of Celtic religions, Lugh was a high-ranking deity, known throughout Europe by variations of his powerful name as Lug or Lugus. Julius Caesar proposed the god Mercury to be one and the same as Lugh.
Certain tribes of old were closely associated with Lugh, for example the Luigni in Ireland, the Ligurians of Genoa, the Lyges of Cadiz, the Lugui of Eastern Europe, and perhaps less obvious to the modern ear, associated place-names such as Lugdunum now modern day London are identified by Darragh Smyth in his well-written work, ‘A Guide to Irish Mythology’. Possibly, the parish name of Lurgan, and the townland of Lurganboy (Lorgain Bhuí) too, may have associations with the god that the Celts called Lugh. Although Liam O’Cealliagh in his finely tuned manuscript of placenames held in the Johnston Central Library, tells us that the floral sounding Lorgain Bhuí means ‘a yellow hill’, the word Lurgan itself translating as ‘a hill shaped like a shinbone’.
Craftsman
On the webpage www.druidry.org Lugh is described as the patron of craftsmen, scholars, warriors, and magicians who is ‘also known as Lugh Samildánach (the Many Skilled) and Lugh Lámhfada (Lugh with the Long Arm)’, no doubt in reference to the famous spear he carried. Lughnasa is intricately linked with Lugh’s foster mother Tailtiu, and it was in fact, at the place named Telltown, in Co. Meath, where the first harvest celebrations were held, were named in her honour. The festival spread to countries that had associated with the god, Lugh. Places such as Carlisle in Britain, Leyden of the Netherlands, and Lyon in France.
The Lunasa Festival takes place at the end of July, or the beginning of August each year, an introduction of the harvest season, Autumn’s arrival is here, ushered grudgingly in as summer waves goodbye. There are variations of the festival’s name, like Lughnasa, Donagh Sunday, Garland Sunday, Bilberry Sunday, Colcannon Sunday, Rock Sunday, and in Britain they knew it as Lamas. The meaning of Lamas being derived from the term ‘loaf mass’ had been popularised in early Christian Britain, although originally derived from the celebration of the Celtic god, a practice continued by present day followers of the ancient festival who bake bread in celebration of this harvest god.
The festival gave a day for the community to come together, usually on hilltops where in good weather the surrounding view could be enjoyed and the ripening fruits of summer’s end, and the bread, in its freshness baked on an open fire, to be consumed and enjoyed by the people. The School’s Folklore Collection, Volume 0622, Page 118, records that: ‘On this day every householder was supposed to feast his family on the first fruits, and the farmer who failed to provide his people with new potatoes, new bacon and white cabbage, on that day was called a ‘Feirmeoir gaoithe’ and should he dig ‘new potatoes before this day he would be referred to as a ‘Needy Farmer.’
St. Aidan’s Comprehensive
Lughnasa was widely celebrated in Ireland for centuries and Tom Barron, the Bailieborough Model School’s former headmaster and a well-known local historian, vividly recalled the circus-like arrival of the BBC to film a re-enactment of a Christianised Lunasa-type festival activity that included the baking of a cake of bread and a ‘cake dance’.
The dance was provided courtesy of St. Aidan’s Comprehensive School students under the direction of Brian O’Mordha. An account from my book Gentleman and Scholar: Thomas James Barron, describes the preparations orchestrated by Tom Barron, who said: ‘I passed on to Mr. O’Mordha, headmaster of the Cootehill Comprehensive School the news that all is clear for the Cake Dance… The two short hymns in Irish, one from St. Patrick’s Breastplate, and the other, a hymn to St Brigid, are really simple and ancient. Mr. O’Mordha will make whatever comments are necessary and we propose to sing the hymns and do the dancing on the site of the Passage Grave and Stone circle etc (Cohaw Giant’s Grave) … where civilization dawned here between four and five thousand years ago.’
Seamus De Faoite and his ‘dancing group’ were also invited by Brian O’Mordha to participate in the dancing item of the programme. Marie Monaghan, a newly appointed Home Economics teacher to St. Aidan’s Comprehensive at the time, was asked by Brian O’Mordha to bake the cake of bread for the filming. I recently spoke to Marie, following a recent talk I did on the Corleck Head in Balilieborough Library, where she told me about how she was requested to bake various sizes of bread cakes, so as to offer the BBC a choice for what they might deem suitable during filming.
Dr. Máire McNeill’s book on ‘The Festival of Lughnasa’ is an extensive study on the history of the festival. Her account on County Cavan in Chapter nine looks at the many sites where the festival took place each year. She spoke of Sliabh Guaire of the Gaillenga, a hilled region stretching ‘from Lough Sillan to Lough Ramor’ and includes the ‘towns of Sherlock, Bailieborough and Kingscourt’, where the hill between ‘Bailieborough and Kingscourt’ is today known as Loughanleagh mountain and she noted that this region was a place of ‘Lughnasa survivals’, from where two of the National Museums ‘most remarkable relics’ were discovered.
Loughanleagh was an ideal location for Lughnasa. Having reached the mountain’s summit, you are at a height of 1119 ft above sea level. For on a clear, warm day, it is said you will see at least fourteen counties with the naked eye, and there beyond you may detect on the distant landscape, the Mountains of Mourne, Slieve Gullion, Loughcrew, the Hill of Tara and much farther afield to the south, the Slieve Blooms, equally may be observed.
Dr Máire McNeill wrote that Cavan-based Lunasa festivals were held atop Quilca Mountain, Ballyheady Hill, Slieve Glah, Corleck Hill, Taghart Mountain, Shantemon Hill, Slieve Rushen, and the Black Rocks at Bellavally Gap. A
nnual events such as these were of great importance because they sparked much needed celebration and gave enhancement to the life of a community.
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