Lughnasadh - The First Harvest in the Wheel of the Year
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Lughnasadh, named after the Irish mythological figure Lugh, marks the first grain harvest and is celebrated on August 1st. The festival honors Lugh's foster mother, Tailtiu, who died from clearing land for agriculture. Traditionally, grains like wheat, barley, oats, and corn, harvested in the morning, were baked into bread by evening and shared with the community. This time of year symbolizes gratitude, abundance, and preparation for the coming seasons.
Symbols of Lughnasadh include sunflowers, sheaves of grain, and harvest tools such as scythes. The colors associated with this festival are bold shades of yellow, bright greens, and orange, reflecting the vibrancy of mid to late summer. Stones like citrine, peridot, carnelian, gold topaz, clear quartz, and amber are also linked to Lughnasadh.
Lughnasadh can be seen as a forerunner of modern agricultural fairs and festivals, with a focus on the abundance of the harvest season. To celebrate Lughnasadh today, many people bake bread and share it with others, honoring the traditional grain celebration and giving thanks for the abundance in their lives. If baking isn't possible, using store-bought bread is perfectly acceptable. Another way to observe this festival is by decorating an altar with Lughnasadh symbols, colors, and elements.
Spending time in meditation at the altar can help connect with one's inner spirit, reflect on current blessings, and set intentions for the future. The flexibility of Lughnasadh allows for spreading out the celebration throughout the month, adapting to individual schedules and preferences. This approach removes the pressure of having a single, specific celebration on August 1st.
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Lessons From The Garden
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They say that necessity is the mother of invention. It is also the mother of motivation at my house, currently. Several projects I’ve been putting off are now somewhat urgent. One of them is tending to my upper garden, which sits at the top a small hill behind my house.
At one time the space held a mix of vegetable gardens and perennials. There were peonies, lilacs, irises, rhubarb and even a small mistletoe plant. The previous owners had let the garden go to seed a few years before I took it over in 2013. Ever since I’ve just been trying to keep the area from being entirely consumed by bittersweet (aka my mortal enemy) and a mysterious groundcover.
For the first 5-6 years I lived here I vowed I would clean up the upper garden and do some serious landscaping to make it more accessible and enjoyable. But there never seemed be enough time. Weekends and evenings were spent at school events, sporting events or shuttling my kids hither and thither. And so I eventually gave up the ghost of a lovely little garden tucked away on the hill. Instead I focused on easier-to-maintain areas around my house.
This year though, I’m finally going to do some proper landscaping and get the space ready for planting. But before I can start adding in more flowers and vegetables, I have to prune, pull and remove all the excessive vines, weeds and trees. I likely won’t even begin planting anything new until next year. I started working on cutting back the garden this past weekend. As I was hacking away at giant bittersweet vines, I was kicking myself for not doing this years ago. Why had I let it get so wild? Why hadn’t I been more diligent about the upkeep? Cutting away all the overgrowth felt like I was giving someone a very short and very bad haircut. It was one of those it’s-going-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better situations.
Even though I love the wild and unkept beauty of this space, I risk losing it all together if I don’t take serious action now. So while it pains me to cut everything down to the dirt and have to cut down several trees (which are leaning precipitously close to my house) I know that the end result will be a much healthier, and even more beautiful, corner of the world. Moving forward I want to start using a Garden Journal & Planner, similar to this one.
When I first started working on this space it was overwhelming and I wanted to quit right away. So in my head I marked off a small area to focus on. I just had to clear this one area, and I could be done for the day. That one area took me four hours to clean up, but I was so happy at the end of it. And much more motivated to continue the work. It was a good reminder that small actions can have big impact.
Do you have any lessons you’ve learned from your gardens or nature?
Some of Gardening Books You May Enjoy*
The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
A Green Witch’s Guide to Herbal Medicine by Sage Willowbrook
Growing Fruits & Vegetables for Dummies - This book was super helpful when I first started out gardening
On The Blog
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Meadow Evening
Meadow Evening
Hovering above the wildflowers,
And near the clover at my feet.
Moonlight falls upon the tall grasses,
Moonbeams streaming through the ancient oak.
Only the little faces of the forget-me-nots
Are alert and curious,
Only the fox, weaving through the meadow,
Rustles the leaves and breaks the patterned silence
Like ripples spreading from a stone cast into still water.
Then you arrive,
Quiet like the meadow,
Soft like the clover blooms,
And beautiful as the silent glow of the starlight.