Lughnasadh Religion Research Paper

The Celtic religion had an oral religious culture according to the reports from the Romans and Julius Caesar. They had a number of rituals for the festivals associated with seasons. Their rituals were divided into five parts; rituals performed at seasonal feasts, transmigration rituals such as initiation rites, divinatory rituals, curative processes, and magical rituals. Firstly, rituals performed at seasonal feasts occurred with the Irish’s feasts and were celebrated throughout the year. These feasts included: Samhain (1st of November), Imbolc (1st of February), Beltane (1st of May) and Lughnasadh (1st of August). For example, Lughnasadh is celebrated on the 1st of August, marking the beginning of the harvest season approximately halfway between
the summer solstice and autumn equinox. It matches other European harvest festivals such as the Welsh Calan Awst and the English Lammas. The festival is named after the god Lugh.
It involves great gatherings that include religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contest like the Tailteann Games, feasting, matchmaking and trading. Evidence has shown that religious rites included the offering of the 1st, a feast of the new food, the sacrifice of a bull and a ritual dance-play. The majority of all these would’ve taken place on top of the mountains. Lughnasadh customs persevered until the 20th century, with the event being named various different things such as ‘Mountain Sunday’ as the event is now placed on the nearest Sunday to the original date. Secondly, transmigration rituals include initiation rites such as name giving, inauguration rites to kinship and death rites. There was a story about a mother that tricked her son into giving him a name and after three other initiations; he was finally considered a man. The initiation to kingship rituals varies from each place and time. For example the most common ritual you could relate this type of ritual with is the king being carried by his followers standing on his shield. Death rituals include a big feast in the graveyard area with pieces of meat and containers filled with drinks, mostly a beer or wine, especially for the richer
dead. Thirdly, divinatory rituals were generally carried out by Druids who were able to predict the future from bird flight and from an examination of the intestines and innards of dead birds, or from observation of the death throes of a sacrificial human. Fourthly, curative processes are those related to healing and restoration. These rituals are associated with the belief in the restoration powers of water or rebirth. Rituals such as immersion in sacred water and the offering of equivalent models of injured parts were used in the curative rituals. Lastly, magical rituals include the collection of curative plants. It is depicted through stories of the Druids. Blessings and curses were appealed by calling a god to do something to somebody else. Evidence of these was found on such things as lead plates. The magical rituals also include sacrifice. Human sacrifice such as that of the Lindow man from Lindow moss in England was ritualistically killed. He died of a ‘threefold’ death which included a hit on the head, strangulation and drowning. Other stories like these support the idea that the ancient Celtic people practiced a ritualistic killing where humans were sacrificed. The Celts have found their search of meaning through these rituals. These rituals have structured their everyday life and their calendar. They have explained the natural forces that Celts couldn’t have control over. These rituals have made them transcend their nature of humanity and become associated with these forces that controlled their world.