My first Lughnasadh

Yesterday morning I was meeting some friends who are part of the local pagan society, and they informed me that today (Aug 2) was a holiday, and that I was invited to the ritual. Apparently it's halfway between summer solstice and autumn equinox. In paganism, they believe in a wheel of the year, and there are eight "spokes" on the wheel: summer and winter solstice, spring and fall equinox, and four halfway points, Sanhain (pronounced "sow-inn"), Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasadh (pronounced "lou-nah-sah").

Those four, Sanhain, Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasadh, were originally celebrated by the Celtic people in ancient Europe. Their year began on November 1 (Sanhain), which is similar to today's Halloween traditions. In fact, Sanhain is where most of Halloween traditions came from. On Sanhain, the barrier between the physical world and the spiritual was lowered, and ghosts of their ancestors would return for that one night. People left food outside to appease their ancestors, and they barred themselves inside their houses throughout the night.

At the ritual (called Lammas in modern paganism), they lit candles and recited lines about each direction, burning a different incense for each direction. A straw figure representing the god of grain was burned, along with our wishes for the coming year, and another figure representing the goddess of corn was laid to rest in a wooden box, symbolizing the corn being harvested and stored through the winter. Then we went inside for a dinner. It wasn't that good, to be honest. All I had time to make was cookies, so that's pretty much all I ate there. Hopefully next time I'll be able to plan ahead a little. If there is a next time.