Lughnasadh — Lammas

This entry has been rewritten because I mixed up the summer solstice with Lammas in the orignal post.

The Celts divided the year into four parts, marked by the summer and winter solstices and the two equinoxes, which are half way between the solstices. Half way between each of these solar holidays were four other major holidays: Samhain, now Halloween, Imbolc (Candlemas), now Groundhog Day, Beltane, now May Day, and Lughnasadh or Lammas, which has not left a recognizable trace. Because Satanists appropriated the pagan holidays, they are now the major Satanic holidays.

Lughnasadh is named after Lugh, the son of the Sun God and a human mother. In various parts of the Celtic world he was known as Hu, Lew, Lliu, or Llew; nasadh means festival. He was the keeper of knowledge and was capable of miracles, magic, divination, and healing. He was also a traveler, a master of all crafts, music, and trade and he created the rules and laws that governed society.

Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season to honor his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the forest for agriculture. Games and athletic competitions were held in her honor. These games live on as summer fairs in Europe and county fairs in the United States.

At this feast, lovers jumped over sacred bonfires to bring good luck, young girls could receive a vision of their future husband, and malevolent spirits were banished. The bonfires were sympathetic magic (as below, so above) ensuring that the sun would remain strong and the crops would grow well until harvest time. When the fires had burned down, cattle were driven through the embers to make them healthy and people sprinkled ashes on the fields and used the coals to relight their kitchen fires.

After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, Lughnasadh was renamed Lammas but remained a harvest celebration. The first of the harvested grain was baked into bread and placed on the altar during Mass. The name Lammas is derived from Anglo-Saxon hlaef-mass, which means “loaf-mass.”

It’s difficult to remember that there is a major Satanic holiday in August because there is no religious or secular celebration to prod your memory. Flashbacks can therefore seem to come from out of the blue and it is hard to prepare yourself for feeling awful. It’s also hard, once you have remembered Lammas is coming up, to keep that knowledge from slipping away.