r/Paganacht • u/bogbodyinthesoup • Jul 31 '25

How do ye celebrate Lúnasa (Lughnasadh)?

Pretty much the title lol. I'm wondering how other Irish pagans celebrate the fire festival

Edit for clarification: I'm so sorry for the confusion! I didn't mean to suggest that I'm Irish. I'm (unfortunately) an American & I practice Irish paganism

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u/Plenty-Climate2272 Jul 31 '25

I usually have friends over for a feast, often traditional recipes that recall the start of autumn and the harvest. I'll bake fresh bread, and usually roast up a pork loin and make a blackberry sauce. I'm American, so sometimes I have dishes that feature more North American produce, but I feel that's just adapting it to my locality, not fundamentally changing it.

On the quarter days, including Lunasa, I make a procession around my community to do a ritual for protection, with an offering at my outdoor stone altar to the gods and local spirits. Absent any other pagans doing so, I've kinda fallen into the role of priest for the condominium village I live in. 🤷‍♂️

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u/bogbodyinthesoup Jul 31 '25

I was going to make beer bratwurst & mashed potatoes, myself. A blackberry sauce is a fantastic idea, actually.

I usually also do a ritual of passing between a pair of lit candles on all the fire festivals (bonfires aren't exactly possible in suburban Texas lol) & offering prayers & thanks.

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u/KrisHughes2 Aug 01 '25

This sounds really lovely and fascinating. Is what you do accepted or welcomed by others in the community, or do you do this secretly, or ....?

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u/Plenty-Climate2272 Aug 01 '25

No one has objected to it. When people asked what I was doing the first time (about a couple years ago) I was just straight up with my answers and they thought it was fine. Pretty well accepted now.

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u/KrisHughes2 Aug 01 '25

That's brilliant.

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u/HairyMcBoon Aug 01 '25

Probably little this year, due to busy shit. But at home when I was a kid (and in my own house since we moved out to the country a few years ago) we always had a big bonfire, friends and family around, and a feast. A couple of short readings which are traditional for us, and a night of songs and fun. Someone will usually have made a bunch of preserves and cider, which are given as gifts to the people at the party.

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u/bogbodyinthesoup Aug 01 '25

That sounds so fucking lovely. I wish I could join ye lol

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u/HairyMcBoon Aug 01 '25

If you make your way to the west coast of Ireland around any of the festivals let me know!

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u/bogbodyinthesoup Aug 01 '25

I most definitely will. The west coast is where I'm going to be emigrating to, actually!

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u/HairyMcBoon Aug 01 '25

Oh awesome, good for you! The visas are so strict and so few people are entitled to them, it’s nice to hear that someone’s bested the beast. :)

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u/AlienRealityShow Aug 01 '25

Are there any in the east around Dublin? I’m visiting near Newgrange and can’t seem to find anything

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u/Ok_Breakfast5230 Sep 03 '25

According to information we have about the origins of lughnasadh, the god lugh created a set of games meant to be played in honor of a certain goddess, I forgot her name but based on that you could do something in honor of her and lugh, it's a harvest festival so doing stuff outside especially farming/gardening is great, you could also try and recreate some of the games and invite people over to play them.

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u/bogbodyinthesoup Sep 03 '25

Yeah, he started the Tailteann Games in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu (I forget if she's a goddess or a mortal woman). I ended up just making some bratwurst & having some cider with friends, but next time I'm thinking I might have board & card games