Monthly Archives: July 2015

Lughnasadh

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It was customary to harvest blueberries and bake blueberry pies at Lughnasadh festivities.

It was customary to harvest blueberries and bake blueberry pies at Lughnasadh festivities.

Lughnasadh (pronounced “Lúnasa”) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Originally it was held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. Lughnasadh is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals; along with Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane. It corresponds to other European harvest festivals such as the Welsh Gwyl Awst and the English Lammas.

In Irish mythology, the Lughnasadh festival is said to have been begun by the god Lugh as a funeral feast and athletic competition in commemoration of his mother who was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Lugh’s mother may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind. These funeral games in her honor were similar to the ancient Olympic Games and included ritual athletic and sporting contests. The event also involved trading, the drawing-up of contracts, and matchmaking that included trial marriages (young couples joined hands through a hole in a wooden door). The trial marriage lasted a year and a day, at which time the marriage could be made permanent or broken without consequences.

Ancient customs associated with Lughnasadh seem to have also included offerings of newly-harvested corn, the sacrifice of a bull and certain rites with its hide as well as a banquet of the meat roasted.

Another custom that Lughnasadh shared with Imbolc and Beltane was visiting holy wells. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking sunwise around the well. They would also leave offerings (often coins).

July birthstone: Ruby

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Rubies are the birthstone of July and are said to guarantee health, wisdom, wealth and success in love.

Rubies are the birthstone of July and are said to guarantee health, wisdom, wealth and success in love.

Rubies are associated with the sun and were thought to preserve mental and physical health. In the middle ages, rubies were viewed as a stone of prophecy. It was thought the stone darkened when danger was near. Ivan the Terrible of Russia stated that rubies were good for the heart, brain and memory. A 13th century prescription to cure liver problems called for powdered ruby. In the 15th-16th centuries, rubies were thought to counteract poison. When rubbed on the skin, they were also thought to restore youth and vitality.

If a ruby were cast into water it would cause it to boil, and if carved and pressed into wax, would melt the wax.

Although the most well-known magical rubies in modern society are the ruby slippers Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz movie, the slippers were silver inthe book. The silver shoes, however, did not show well against the yellow brick road inthe film and so the silver shoes were replaced with ruby slippers, which coukld be more clearly seen.

Take a look at my previous post about the ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz, “I’ll get you, my pretty… and your little dog too!”

Dog Days of Summer

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A period of hot weather in July, known as the Dog Days, is said to be a source of pestilence and disease.

A period of hot weather in July, known as the Dog Days, is said to be a source of pestilence and disease.

The phrase “dog days” refers to the sultry days of summer, especially in mid-late July and August. The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the “Dog Star” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog); this linkage first appeared in the Greek poem Phaenomena by Aratus (310-260 BC) while Sirius’s association with summer heat is found in an earlier Greek poem, Works and Days by Hesiod in 700 BC.

Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time “the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies.” according to Brady’s Clavis Calendaria, in 1813.

The constellation Sirius was classically described as Orion’s dog. The Ancient Greeks thought that Sirius’s emanations could affect dogs adversely, making them behave abnormally during the “dog days,” the hottest days of the summer. The excessive panting of dogs in hot weather was thought to place them at risk of desiccation and disease. In extreme cases, a foaming dog might have rabies, which could infect and kill humans whom they had bitten.

Western Christian church calendars have even noted the Dog Days. According to the 1552 edition of the The Book of Common Prayer, the “Dog Daies” begin July 6 and end August 17. But this edition, the 2nd book of Edward VI, was never used extensively nor adopted by the Convocation of the Church of England. The lectionary of 1559 edition of the Book of Common Prayer indicates: “Naonae. Dog days begin” with the readings for July 7 and end August 18. This corresponds very closely to the lectionary of the 1611 edition of the King James Bible (also called the Authorized version of the Bible) which indicates the Dog Days beginning on July 6 and ending on September 5.