Lughnassah, August 1, is named after the Irish sun god, Lugh. In Wales, he’s called Lleu Llaw Gyffes (Lleu of the Skillful Hand). Both descend from an older, shared Celtic god named Lugus.
Lughnassah is the Celtic Harvest Festival. Sunshine helps nurture the grain until it ripens. Then it’s reaped, prepared, and baked as fresh bread. In the ancient Celtic belief system, Lugh transmitted his power of the sun into the grain, and with the harvest, the god was sacrificed.
Nowadays, we can get any food we want from the grocery store year-round, so it’s nice to use Lughnassah as an opportunity to connect with nature and its seasonal cycle for a moment.
- If you like to cook—include fresh apples, pears, corn, or home-baked bread in one of your meals for the day.
- For nature lovers and those who like to get away—take a walk through the woods. In a big city, you can visit an arboretum or local nature center.
- Or, if you’re an arts-and-crafts person—it’s a great time to make corn dollies.
And if you’re a reader, here’s an excerpt from my Celtic Romance/Historical Fantasy novel that will time-travel you back to a Lughnassah celebration in 1st-century Scotland.
The Warrior and the Druidess
Excerpt
Tanwen tossed a piece of bread into the central hearth. As it burned to a crisp, the smoke curled and rose to the gods. She let her sadness over leaving Sulwen and Rhys—and the death of her family—melt away. This was her new tribe, and she loved them.
She led the chief’s household and her two guards in a circle around the central hearth as she chanted, “Earth gave us life. Death returns us to her womb. Unending, the circle runs forevermore. Sun, earth, and grain, all which falls, shall rise again.”
And that is why I’m here, Tanwen realized. She symbolized two great tribes destroyed by Rome. Yet, with Brude, she would make a stand to keep the brutal foreign force from Caledonia’s borders. She and Brude would see to it that no Pict tribe would be annihilated. Her descendants would teach the Celtic ways to those in the future, who, after accepting foreign beliefs, would come to forget their ancestors. In that, she was like the goddess. She carried the seed of rebirth, so that which had fallen would rise again.
Get your copy here!
Plus, I have a novella,
The Lynx and the Druidess,
which features the Welsh god Lleu and his festival, Lughnassah.
He crossed worlds to claim her heart—and would tear through an empire to keep her safe.
The harvest fires are blazing.
The Romans are coming.
And a god with claws falls hard for one fierce druidess.
When a breathtaking stranger wanders into Wendolyn's village during the Lughnasa festival, she feels the pull instantly—dangerous, magnetic, impossible to ignore.
He watches her like sunlight worshipping the earth.
Touches her like he already knows her body.
And every glance between them burns hotter than the festival flames.
But the mysterious warrior is hiding more than secrets.
Lleu is no ordinary man.
He's the radiant sun god himself—crossing between worlds to be near the fiery druidess.
And when the Roman army marches toward her people, he's willing to do anything to protect her…
even if it means revealing the beast within.
And Lleu's lynx form was made for war.
As fear, passion, and ancient magic collide beneath the harvest moon, Wendolyn must decide if she can trust the man everyone calls a coward, or risk losing the one being powerful enough to save them all.
And the once-in-a-lifetime love blazing between them.
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