Sorrows of the Soil

Lughnasadh is the festival that Lugh, the great Celtic solar god of justice and skill, declared in honour of his foster mother, the goddess Tailtiu. Tailtiu is said to have cleared the forests of Ireland for agriculture, but to have died from exhaustion as a result. Her actions allowed the people of her land to survive, and when they harvest they remember the sorrows of the soil. Tailtiu is associated with grain and apples and with the earth, fertility and wildness. August is a sacred month, tinged with transformation inwards towards darkness. Although the active growth of the crops and fruit is slowing down, now is a time of abundance and plenty. It is the start of the harvest season when crops are gathered and stored for winter: when seeds from the ripe corn fall back into the earth to be hidden there until the first signs of spring. The soil renews.