In Ireland, Lughnasadh was a 3-day calendar event with 6 days of festival on either side. The occasion was in honour of the sun god associated with the lynx and the holly club. The calendar event occurs while the sun is in the house of Leo (lynx) of the zodiac calendar. The month of Tinne (Holly), the bisexual tree, has just ended and Coll (hazel) perfection is just beginning in the tree calendar.
A larger than usual needfire was lit on the highest hill and the night was
passed in fasting and keeping a quiet vigil for the first rays of the sun
god. As soon as the sun god appeared,
"First Sacrifices" were made, to show appreciation for the blessings
that the sun god and the earth goddesses had bestowed on the people. The feast itself began by eating curd cheese
circles and butter made from the cows' milk of that morning. Special bread was also made from grain that
was cut, dried, winnowed, ground and baked on a rowan fire that day.
Lughnasadh was the Danann festival that evolved from the Firbolg or Fomorian festival of Bron Tro Gain and would have evolved yet again when the Goidels took control of Ireland. The event was a combination of harvest festival (Foghmhar), cattle and horse fair, and the Tailteann Games held at Tailltinn (Tailtiu's Mound) in honour of Lugh’s foster-mother Tailtiu. The festival featured chariot races, mock swordplay, women's races, entertainment by musicians and poets, and meetings between friends, family and clans.
During the festival of Lughnasadh, deeds of violence, levying debts, abductions and the divorcing of a husband or a wife were all prohibited on penalty of death. Trial marriages of 11 days were consummated on this day.
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