Sylvia Plath // Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Important Facts about Lughnasadh from an Irish Celtic Reconstructionist

Spelling and Pronunciation

OI. Lughnasadh (Loo-na-sa), sometimes spelled Lughnasa or Modern Irish Lúnasa. Not to be confused with other harvest festivals like Lammas.

Dates

Most reconstructionists celebrate Lughnasadh on July 31st - August 1st from sundown to sundown by the Gregorian calendar, while others choose to celebrate the transitional period between the months as they would have been by the Julian calendar (about 13 days later by the Julian calendar).

Traditionally this festival likely would have happened as the grains were ready for harvesting or possibly even when the wild bilberries were ripe (as some scholars mention that if the grains were not ripe they would still preform a ritualized ‘first harvesting’ but it is possible this tradition came after the festival was firmly tied to a calendar date.)

Importance in the Mythos

In the mythologies it is well documented that this festival coincides with Lugh’s funeral games in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu, known as Aonach Tailteann. In the mythologies she is said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agricultural needs. The first documented instance of Lughnasadh in the mythologies was in the Wooing of Emer, Tochmarc Emire, which makes sense given the importance of marriages at this time of the year. It is not known specifically but widely speculated that the curse of the Ulstermen by Macha took places at the horse race for this festival.

In later time periods it is common to see a form of struggle, normally between the ‘protective’ forces and ‘destructive’ forces. The modern equivalent being the struggle between Saint Patrick and Crom Dubh but this is likely a reflection of an early struggle between Lugh and Balor (which I previously mentioned in my info-dump on Bealtaine).

Celebration Traditions

Aonachs, funeral games, have (to the best of our knowledge) been a custom in Ireland since the bronze age and were practiced on and off into the middle ages. They had both personal and community functions and occurred in three stages. Stage one was the funeral proceedings themselves. They would last one to three days, likely depending on the importance of the individual in question. Mourning songs and chants were participated in by both the attendees and the Druids. The second stage was for proclaiming of laws. Aonachs were a time when universal piece between túaths was declared. The third stage was that of Cuiteach Fuait, games that tested mental and physical abilities. These games included the well known horse and chariot races, wrestling games, boxing, high jumps but also competitions in strategy, singing, story telling and between various skilled craftsmen.

It was incredibly common for marriages to be arranged and preformed during this festival. More well known ‘trial marriages’ (lasting a year and a day) were still preformed at this festival up until the 13th century. It is likely that the coupling occurring at this time of year had an effect on the relationship to births seen at Imbolg (which falls 9 months later).

MacNeill, a leading scholarly expert on the festival, notes that a ritualistic bull sacrifice was made at this festival and the bull would then be eaten. I could not find any definitive evidence to support the idea, but I think it was likely that bulls in general would be culled from the herd at this point in the year to supply the feast.

Art credit @ire-ethereal

it's immensely funny to me how andrew lloyd webber read this passage from the book and was like yeah the journey down to the phantom's lair is this really breathtaking magical gondola ride where christine is just captivated by the strange and fantastical beauty of it all (see below)

when in the novel they're both like in a rowboat in the dark with christine scared out of her mind and confused as hell while erik is paddling like he's out for an extreme day of fishing and just staring christine down for the entire duration of the journey without blinking once . like mind you his eyes quite literally GLOW in the DARK and he's just fucking staring into her soul and silently rowing and probably not even breathing like

Alright, I know it’s out there and I need it.

Who has the Great Gatsby Slime Tutorial. Cough it up please and thank you.

(Genuinely I, like a lot of people, Really want to see it, and if I see one more clip of it on my TikTok and can’t watch the full thing I’m going to scream)

I just read Phantom of the Opera today (By Gaston Leroux) and I feel really weird trying to engage with the online content because the book is my only reference for the story but I know the phantom is changed to be a proper romantic option in the musical/movie while in the book he is literally the toxic asshole to say he is going to kill himself if you break up with him. Except he is also gonna blow up an opera house and kill everyone else too.

So keep being taken aback by seeing so many people be like "Christine should have chosen the Phantom" "The Phantom was so romantic" because i am just here like "YOU MEAN THE DERANGED ABUSIVE MURDERER MAN?!?!" "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?!?!?"

I hope Elias shows up as Gwen's completely zonked out fail uncle. I hope he smokes weed on audio & says shit like "far out, dude". I hope he does a fake out "Gwendolyn, your constant lack of results is a disgrace to the Bouchard name!" in the Jonah!Elias voice & then breaks down laughing "man could you fucking imagine" before taking another hit. I hope he drives her up the fucking wall.

god I hate people who say they don't watch musicals because people "just don't burst out into song and highly choreographed dance numbers at will-"

how fucking stupid are you

people don't run around like john wick getting shot and still standing up either or meet cute rich millionaires at coffee shops who wanna marry poor women from the bronx or have super powers and shit but somehow you can comprehend that just fine in other fictional media.

what is so fucking hard to comprehend about a story and emotions being conveyed through fucking song

have you never felt a human emotion in your entire life, can you not comprehend joyful noises or somber sounds, can you not understand a soliloquy or the troubled internal dialogue of a person in pain

do you not like music???

is there a single person on this earth who has never found one sound that they enjoy, played in repetition??

either stop lying to protect your pathetic pride or grow an extra brain cell or two and actually think about what you are saying.

"people don't sing or dance in real life-"

yes they do, when they're not a miserable cuck like you, it's just not always to a discernible beat.

you have lived your entire life with your heart and mind and soul closed to others.

you should kill your-

had a fascinating english class that resulted in the notes header “the forcefeminization of victor frankenstein”

I actually adore the ending of Cinderella's Castle. Like some people wish there was more to it (which is valid ofc!) but IT'S literally so perfect to me. Ella showing up in the audience? Always love when that happens in theatre. The reveal of how she's back through the shoes technically being on her feet again? Gotta love a suprise loophole. Her standing on the block like the Fairy Queen was to indicate the power she now has? Wonderful parallel. Her throwing the Step-Mother's words back at her? Especially the 'allow me to reacquaint you with your fear' ? Absolutely DELICIOUS eating it up. And of course the cherry onto is the Ash to Ash reprise with Bryce's angelic vocals. It's absolutely perfect.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy being like, "I am 100% committed to respecting your 'no', but I heard you wouldn't promise my aunt not to marry me so I had to come and check just one (1) more time."