blake
31st July 2011, 17:08
Hello All,
If anyone has been curios, as I am about the divine rite of the sacrificial King, during the Lammas season, I have copied a portion of an article off the net that refers to this ancient tradition and how it played into Princess Diana's death. To me, this is all conjecter. However, it is interesting to me, and may help me locate the origin of the divine rite of King sacrifice. I am open to all comments.
Sincerely,
Mr. Davis
Diana’s “accident” was not just an assassination, but a ritual sacrifice. It was certainly convenient for Charles and Queen Elizabeth that Diana would be out of the way. Once again the palace would have full control of the princes.
Even the place where Diana’s accident took place seems to have been especially chosen. The accident took place in a tunnel called Pont d’Alma.(7) This is a HUGE coincidence under the circumstances. The place on which the Pont d’Alma is built is an ancient, pagan sacrificial site - sacred to the moon goddess (DIANA). In the pagan Roman religion before Christ, Diana was the triple goddess, the “Queen of Heaven.” The term “al-mah” means moon goddess in many mid-eastern languages.
Additionally, since about the 6th century A.D., the Pont d’Alma has been associated with the Merovingian dynasty. Remember, those Merovingian kings were the ones supposedly possessing the blood of Jesus flowing through their veins.
During this Merovingian period (c. 500 - 751 A.D.) if two kings had a dispute over property, it had to be settled by combat at Pont d’Alma. Legend says that anyone killed there goes to heaven to sit at God’s right hand, being able to look down and see all that happened on the earth, even their enemies. Thus, the person killed was actually the victor, because they became God’s eyes on earth and could manipulate humanity from heaven. Isn't it interesting that this is where Diana just happened to be killed?
It is especially interesting in the light of the fact that Merovaeus, the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, was a devotee of the goddess Diana!
But why was Diana killed? Well, aside from the obvious fact that her death clears away a lot of the hassles the royals have been experiencing, there may be a deeper, more sinister reason.
Diana’s bloodline was even more pure ROYALTY than Charles’ is. She can trace her ancestry back to the Scottish House of Stewart (at least to King Charles II). The current Prince Charles’ ancestry is a mixture of Russian, German, and French along with the English. The House of Windsor was originally called Saxe-Coburg-Gothe, but the name was changed in 1917 because it sounded too German (8) – especially after the First World War.
In my book, WICCA, I document the doctrine in paganism and witchcraft of “The Rite of the Divine King.” (9) This belief is that the king is also witch high priest over all the land over which he reigns. In dire times, he must be killed as a sacrifice so that the land may be healed. Some scholars believe that several ancient kings of England were thus killed.
The idea behind this is that the king and the land are one from the standpoint of the Craft. The king is the living incarnation of the land over which he reigns. Thus, if the land is in bad shape, royal blood must be shed to heal the land. Originally, this would primarily be seen as things like crop failures, droughts, or problems with disease among cattle. Of course, today such things are of less concern than the fact that the monarchy itself was being imperiled by Diana’s antics.
However, remember the infamous “mad-cow” disease that afflicted thousands of livestock in the British Isles a couple of years ago. Farmers in Britain ended up having to kill millions of pounds worth of cattle because of the disease. Now that would really be something worthy of a divine king’s sacrifice. Traditionally, this sacrifice had to take place around the witch festival of Harvest Home (September 21).
There is significant precedent for someone dying in the place of the king - someone else preferably with noble blood. Some witches believe that Thomas a-Becket’s death was a vicarious sacrifice for Henry II, for example. To illustrate how well known is this concept of a substitute sacrifice, one only has to look at a popular film which has achieved “cult” status: THE WICKER MAN.
THE WICKER MAN was made in the early 1970’s in Britain, and had a lot of high power talent behind it. It was not just your garden variety “horror film.” The film is about a fictitious island (probably based on the Isle of Man) off the coast of Scotland. It is supposedly called Summerisle and is reigned over by a Lord Summerisle. A Scottish policeman is sent to the island investigate the disappearance of a young girl. He is a strict Presbyterian, but is part of the ROYAL constabulary.
The islanders seem oddly unconcerned about the child’s absence the policeman soon discovers that the entire island is made up of openly practicing pagans. It is a kind of Wiccan Disneyland. Lord Summerisle himself is the high priest of the island.
In the end of the film it is revealed that the “Wicker Man” is a giant idol made of wicker which is filled with livestock and set afire as a sacrifice to pagan gods as part of the pagan festival. However, the surprise turn of events is that the girl was never really missing and that the constable was lured to the island to be a human sacrifice within the wicker man, because all the apple trees on the island had the blight.
The end of the film makes it extremely clear that Lord Summerisle (the high priest/king of the island) should have been the sacrifice but they lured the constable there instead. He qualified as a substitute sacrifice because he was a duly sworn representative of the CROWN of England. Remember, British police arrest you “in the name of the crown.” As the constable is left dying in the flames of the wicker man, he cries out to Lord Summerisle words to the effect that he had better watch out. If the apple trees did not improve, Summerisle would be in the wicker man next year!
To its credit, the film does not caricature the stern Christian constable too much; and he is seen going to his death as a noble martyr. But the point I wish to emphasize here is that this film played on the pagan concept that a vicarious substitute could be chosen to replace the actual high priest king.
Additionally, to create the rebirth of King Arthur in young Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor (born Summer Solstice 1982) would require some extremely powerful magickal energy indeed; which could only be raised by the ritual murder of a “divine king” or a “royal” substitute. In the light of all this, it is entirely possible that Diana was sacrificed in substitute for Charles’ ritual murder.
Also telling in this regard is that for the vicarious sacrifice to be effective, it would have to be done near – but before – the Harvest Home feast. August 31, the day of Diana’s accident does qualify.
The Dark Hand of Freemasonry
There are oddly “coincidental Masonic” elements to her death as well (not the least of which is the fact that right above the Alma tunnel is a replica of the torch from the Statue of Liberty (10) [a Masonic idol, sculpted by a French Freemason]). That torch actually symbolizes the “light” of Lucifer.
Another Masonic feature (possible just coincidence) is the fact that the Mercedes carrying Diana smashed into not just any pillar within the Alma tunnel, but the 13th pillar! Thirteen is very significant, both in Masonry and witchcraft.
A final grisly Masonic “coincidence” which has been pointed out by more than one writer is what was done the course of supposedly trying to save Diana’s life [after the torturously slow ride to the hospital – it took all of forty minutes to travel 3.8 miles (11)]. To work on and massage her heart, her chest was cut open from collarbone to navel. (12) This is the penalty of second degree in Masonry, to have your chest ripped open and your heart taken out.
Remember that both Charles and his mother, the Queen, are - by virtue of their leadership in the Order of the Garter (13) - the highest ranking Masons in the world - even though neither is actually known to be a Mason.
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the most prestigious “chivalraic” order in the British Isles. The British monarch is – by virtue of his or her office – automatically the sovereign of the order. Queen Elizabeth was installed as a “lady” of the Order of the Garter on April 23, 1948 (her birthday) while still a princess. (14) When she became queen, she became the sovereign of the Order. On July 26, 1958, Prince Charles became a knight of the Order. (15)
This strange order of “Christian Knighthood” (is that an oxymoron?) was established by King Edward III and his son, Edward the “Black Prince” in 1348. (16) They were both descended from the French Plantagenets. The legend behind the Order’s founding has it that the King was at a ball in Calais, France in 1347. The young countess of Salisbury (Joan of Kent) happened to drop her garter in the middle of the dance. The king gallantly knelt down and picked it up, tying it around own his knee. It was at this point that he uttered the famous words: “Honi soit qui mal y pense.” (Shame on him who thinks evil of it). This is now the motto of the Order of the Garter. (17)
The result of this was the creation of a post-Arthurian round-table with 24 knights and then King Edward and his son (13 times two – the number of a grand coven). The missing piece of this odd puzzle is that the garter has been a symbol of a witch queen for millennia. The countess’ garter identified her with the pagan religion of witchcraft and Edward made a point of identifying himself with it. He even tied it on his leg.
This “witchy” number-system is carried through in the fact the garter of the Order is edged with two rows of 169 miniature gold buckles, exactly like the horseshoe shaped buckles on a witch queen’s garter. 169 is 13 x 13! The primary membership of the order consists of 26 knights (the monarch plus 12 knights and the Prince of Wales plus 12 knights). That is 13 x 2. This essentially shows through occult symbolism that the British sovereign (in this case, Queen Elizabeth) is a Witch Queen or King. An odd capstone to all of this occult numerology is the fact that Charles is the thirteenth Prince of Wales to be invested into the order.
To this day, the Order of the Garter remains one of the most elite societies and appears to be at pinnacle of English-speaking Freemasonry, if not all Masonry. The Garter itself appears on the coat of arms of both the Queen and Prince Charles. This is why the strange “Masonic overtones” to Diana’s death are so significant. Many high-ranking Masons in government and the military of the United Kingdom might feel it was their duty to eliminate Diana; just as 110 years ago, high-ranking Masons in the royal court created the “Jack the Ripper” murders to cover up another troublesome woman. (18)
This is not to say that Charles himself was behind her death. He may well be innocent. His grief when he learned of her loss appeared to be massive and sincere. It may have been “Her Majesty” who signed Diana’s death warrant, or it may have been the dark forces behind the monarchy itself. We may never know. The point is not necessarily to assign blame as it is to understand that there is a possible deeper occult sub-text to all of this intrigue than most people are willing to acknowledge.
There is, however, some strong evidence to implicate MI-6 (the British Secret Service) or at least some factions within MI-6 in the accident – even to the point of naming names. A mysterious shadow figure within the British intelligence community, Gunther Russbacher may be behind the accident. Though the official story is that Russbacher is now retired (he would be somewhere between 50 and 60 years of age), he did at one time run a team which specialized in killing people in strange ways, like automobile accidents.
In another strange twist in an increasingly bizarre chain of “coincidences,” Russbacher was born near Salzburg, Austria on a red marble altar in a small chapel. That chapel contains the bodies of all the Knight Templar Grand Masters. In simple terms, his birth was surrounded by some sort of Templar ritual. The Templars, of course, are strongly connected with this Merovingian bloodline and its protection and have been for nearly a millennium. (19) They are also strongly and historically linked to Freemasonry! (20)
In any event, it is evident that Diana’s death was not an accident. As soon as we heard of her death, we knew it was an occult sacrifice. Every piece of evidence that emerged bears that out. This only illustrates the lengths that dark forces (whether British intelligence or some shadowy figures of unknown origin) will use to achieve their goals.
There is creditable evidence out there for Charles being a candidate for the anti-Christ. (21) Cohen, in his excellent book, gives an exhaustive list of reasons why he might be considered. This even goes down to Charles’ “heraldic achievement” or coat of arms, which Cohen researched thoroughly. Many of the Biblical features of the Great Beast are present in the coat of arms, something which is strange, to say the least. If not Charles, then perhaps Prince William – as we were told as witches. We normally do not get into “Let’s identify the Anti-Christ” games, but right now he is more likely than any public figure. Note how Charles’ popularity “magically” shot up after Diana’s funeral.
blake
31st July 2011, 18:37
To my knowledge it isn't a tradition of the Cymry so in turn it wouldn't be the tradition of Ynys Prydein (Island of Briton). But Iesu (incorrectly called Jesus) was sacrificed.
Hello Bryn ap Gwilym,
Thank you for your information. You might be right, perhaps it was not a tradition of Wales and Britain, although where do we draw the lines of ancient tradition from so long ago when everyone seemed to be conqueoring everyone else? I found this, and I am inclined to beleive that it probably came from an ancient babylonian tradition; but I don't know, right now I am just searching. But I have copied it for those who might have a similar search.
Sincerely,
Mr. Davis
Study of the concept was introduced by Sir James George Frazer in his influential book The Golden Bough (1890–1915); sacral kingship plays a role in Romanticism and Esotericism (e.g. Julius Evola) and some currents of Neopaganism (Theodism). The school of Pan-Babylonianism derived much of the religion described in the Hebrew Bible from cults of sacral kingship in ancient Babylonia.
The so-called British and Scandinavian cult-historical schools maintained that the king personified a god and stood at the center of the national or tribal religion. The English "myth and ritual school" concentrated on anthropology and folklore, while the Scandinavian "Uppsala school" emphasized Semitological study.
[edit] Frazer's interpretation
A sacred king, according to the systematic interpretation of mythology developed by Frazer in The Golden Bough (published 1890), was a king who represented a solar deity in a periodically re-enacted fertility rite. Frazer seized upon the notion of a substitute king and made him the keystone of his theory of a universal, pan-European, and indeed worldwide fertility myth, in which a consort for the Goddess was annually replaced. According to Frazer, the sacred king represented the spirit of vegetation, a divine John Barleycorn. He came into being in the spring, reigned during the summer, and ritually died at harvest time, only to be reborn at the winter solstice to wax and rule again. The spirit of vegetation was therefore a "dying and reviving god". Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus, Attis and many other familiar figures from Greek mythology and classical antiquity were re-interpreted in this mold. The sacred king, the human embodiment of the dying and reviving vegetation god, was supposed to have originally been an individual chosen to rule for a time, but whose fate was to suffer as a sacrifice, to be offered back to the earth so that a new king could rule for a time in his stead.
Especially in Europe during Frazer's early twentieth century heyday, it launched a cottage industry of amateurs looking for "pagan survivals" in such things as traditional fairs, maypoles, and folk arts like morris dancing. It was widely influential in literature, being alluded to by D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, among other works.
Robert Graves used Frazer's work in The Greek Myths and made it one of the foundations of his own personal mythology in The White Goddess. Most curiously of all, Margaret Murray, the principal theorist of witchcraft as a "pagan survival," used Frazer's work to propose the thesis that many Kings of England who died as kings, most notably William Rufus, were secret pagans and witches, and whose deaths were the re-enactment of the human sacrifice that stood at the centre of Frazer's myth, a speculation taken up by Katherine Kurtz' in her novel Lammas Night.
[edit] In fiction
Many of Rosemary Sutcliff's novels are recognized as being directly influenced by Frazer, depicting individuals accepting the burden of leadership and the ultimate responsibility of personal sacrifice, including Sword at Sunset, The Mark of the Horse Lord, and Sun Horse, Moon Horse [1].
[edit] See also
Great Catholic Monarch
Great King
Katechon - Eschatological-Apocalyptic King
Mythological king
Apotheosis
Coronation
Christ
Euhemerism
Hero cult
Human sacrifice
Jesus Christ and comparative mythology
Messiah
Sceptre
Winged sun
Life-death-rebirth deity
[edit] Notes
1.^ Article about Rosemary Sutcliff at the Historical Novels Info website; paragraph 15
[edit] References
General Ronald Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, (Blackwell, 1993): ISBN 0-631-18946-7
William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D., A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, (London, 1875)
J.F. del Giorgio, The Oldest Europeans, (A.J. Place, 2006)
Claus Westermann, Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. sacred kingship.
James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., 12 vol. (1911–15, reprinted 1990)
A.M. Hocart, Kingship (1927, reprint 1969)
G. van der Leeuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation (1933, English 1938, 1986)
Geo Widengren, Religionsphänomenologie (1969), pp. 360–393.
Lily Ross Taylor, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor (1931, reprint 1981).
David Cannadine and Simon Price (eds.), Rituals of Royalty: Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies (1987).
Henri Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods (1948, 1978).
Colin Morris, The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 (1989),
J.H. Burns, Lordship, Kingship, and Empire: The Idea of Monarchy, 1400–1525 (1992).
"English school" S.H. Hooke (ed.),The Labyrinth: Further Studies in the Relation Between Myth and Ritual in the Ancient World (1935).
S.H. Hooke (ed.), Myth, Ritual, and Kingship: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Kingship in the Ancient Near East and in Israel (1958).
"Scandinavian school" Geo Widengren, Sakrales Königtum im Alten Testament und im Judentum (1955).
Ivan Engnell, Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East, 2nd ed. (1967)
Aage Bentzen, King and Messiah, 2nd ed. (1948; English 1970).
[edit] External links
blake
31st July 2011, 21:48
[QUOTE=Lisab; Interesting thread by the way x[/QUOTE]
Hi Lisab
Thanks, Lisab. I do have an interest in the connecion between Lammas and the divine rite of Kings but I never seem to have the time to dig in too deeply to look for meaningful answers. Sacrifice seems to be such a deep theme through history of us humans, and I have often wondered why.
When I was in school we had to read a short story called "The Lottery." It was about
a beautiful, properous, perfect village;except that to have it all, they believed they had to sacrifice one of the villagers each year. The story has haunted me, and as in many ways we all are being sacrificed by society in many ways, the least of which is being forced into using a fiat system!
But Lammas is here, and among the bountry why does very ancient tradition across the cultures call for a sacrifice? I came across this piece and its long but it has a lot of information about human sacrifice and the divine rite of kings for those who may be searching as I am. Since this article shows that it wqas not just in Ireland but goes back to Babylonia and beyond, who brought this concept of the Divine Rite of Kings that need to sacrificed, and have the tables been turned on us?
Sincerely,
Mr. Davis
LUGHNASA© Anna Franklin Lughnasa, make known its dues,
.
THE HORSE
Even today the Irish still associate equine activities with this time of the year. It can surely be no coincidence that such famous and long-established events as the Dublin Horse Show, the Connemara Pony Show, and the Galway Races take place in late July and early August. Horse swimming is recorded as having taken place throughout Ireland. Horses were made to swim through lakes and streams at Lughnasa or on the nearest Sunday. It was thought that no animal would survive the year unless they were so drenched.
A horse, as evidenced by the ceremony used to invest an Irish king, often represented the Sovereign Goddess. The ritual is obviously a very ancient one, but survived into the twelfth century CE and the Christian period. Giraldus Cambrensis recorded that the rite began with the king crawling naked to a white mare. [6] He would mate with her (perhaps symbolically), and then she would be killed, cut up and boiled in a cauldron. When the brew had cooled the king would get into it, drink some of the broth and eat some of the meat- the body and blood of the goddess. He would then stand on a stone, holding a white wand, and turn three times sunwise and three times anti-sunwise in honor of 'the Trinity' or rather the Triple Goddess. In Sanskrit and Norse sources the association of the sacrifice of a horse with the investiture of a king is also found. The land is symbolized by the powerful female animal.[7] The Goddess was sometimes visualized as the land itself and called the Sovereign Goddess because everything that happened upon it had to have her approval or it was doomed to failure. In many cultures the earthly king was deemed to rule only through with her authority. His investiture included a symbolic marriage to the Sovereign Goddess or a real marriage to the queen who represented her. In Irish myth Niall and his brothers were out riding and came to a well with a very ugly hag guarding it. They asked her for a drink, but she demanded a kiss from each in return. All the brothers refused but Niall said that not only would he kiss her, but that he would lay with her as well. He embraced her earnestly and found that instead of an old crone a lovely woman was in his arms. She told him that she was Sovereignty, and he was confirmed as king of Tara. The goddess of the land often has the dual form of maiden and hag (summer and winter).
Macha, one of the triad that constitutes the Morrigan, was the horse and sovereign goddess of the Ulaidh. Her cult site was the sacred mound of Eamhain Macha (near Armagh) where assemblies were held, perhaps since the Neolithic era. Macha means 'enclosure' and Eamhain 'tumulus'. An enclosure of oak posts was built around the hill. At some point it was filled with limestone blocks and the walls burned, probably by the invading Celts. There was a central timber post, probably representing a fertilizing phallus. The entrance to the enclosure was at the west, the direction of the setting sun and perhaps symbolizing death and sacrifice. According to her legend she offered her sexual favors to three different kings, but as each approached she set on them and tied them up, forcing them to construct the sacred enclosure for her.
Her festival is Lughnasa, August 1st, and assemblies were held at her ‘enclosure’. She was described as having golden hair, and this is clearly a reference to the corn harvested at her festival. Horses skulls were often buried beneath the threshing floor to appease the horse goddess of the land who brought forth the corn.
Survivals of the ancient associations between the Goddess of Sovereignty, the horse, and Lughnasa may be detected in the horse swimming and racing that were part of the Lughnasa celebrations. Horse races are still held around Lughnasa in Ireland.
‘Riding’ is the term given to the practice of asserting territorial rights to an area of land by riding over it on horseback. The practice was particularly common in the counties of southern Scotland and northern England where the borders were in dispute. The custom was also used to maintain the rights to graze animals and forage for wood etc. on areas of common land known as 'Lammas lands'. Until the Enclosures Acts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which put common lands into private ownership, these lands were let to farmers from spring until the end of July. The haymaking had to be completed by Lammas as the lands reverted back to common grazing land from Lammas until the following spring. Lammas was one of the quarter days on which criminal and civil courts were convened, contracts were signed, legal and marital agreements entered into, and rent payments became due.
FACTION FIGHTING AND BATTLES
Faction-fighting was a customary feature of many Lughnasa assemblies. Groups of young men from rival villages would gather and fight. Faction-fights could be fierce and lead to injuries and very occasionally death, but it was the observance of the custom that was considered important, rather than winning at all costs. There is a strongly held belief in Irish folklore that the success or failure of the harvest was dependent on the fairies, and was decided by a battle between two troops from neighbouring areas. This idea that success in battle bought fruitfulness to the crops of the winning side is probably the origin of faction-fighting. Máire MacNeill suggests that these fights were symbolic re-enactments of these fairy battles.[8]
The Battle of the Flowers takes place on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, in mid-August. The ‘battle’ is between groups of islanders who compete to see who can make the most original picture from flowers. Since the nineteenth century these have been paraded on flat trucks like a carnival float, but the local tradition of making floral patterns and pictures is much earlier. Exhibits can be up to forty-five feet long and contain a hundred thousand or more fresh flowers; hundreds of volunteers spend all night cutting heads off flower stems and sticking them to the framework. It also features an illuminated moonlight parade. The parade consists of massive floats with marching bands, and dancers. The "Battle of Flowers Festival" attracts an audience in the region of forty thousand people.
THE SCAPEGOAT
The Burryman makes his appearance in Queensferry around Lammas. He has a very surreal appearance like an alien from a sci-fi movie, a man with his whole head and body covered in burrs. He is paraded around the local area, wearing a garlanded headdress and carrying two staffs covered with flowers, to collect alms on the second Friday in August. The origins of this custom are obscure. He may be a representative of the harvest-spirit or alternatively a scapegoat, paraded through the town to remove the sins of the populace after which he would be thrown in the sea or otherwise abused. Other accounts associate him with the local fisheries, suggesting that his function was to propitiate a sea-god.
to mind the deaths of both the Irish Lugh and the Welsh Llew. Llew was killed when on the bank of a river with one foot on the back of a he-goat and the other on the rim of a bath; his hair tied to a tree. He was stabbed with a special spear. Lugh was killed by a spear thrust through his foot and then drowned; the myth recorder seems to have left out the third method, which would have involved strangling. Over two thousand bodies executed in a similar manner have been discovered in the peat bogs of Northern Europe- stabbed, strangled or haltered, and drowned. It seems from examination that such sacrificial victims may have been given a ritual meal or drink. Some have been found to have had a meal of barley, and at least one bog man's stomach has been found to contain ergot, a rye fungus with similar effects to LSD. [9] He had been clubbed and his throat cut, before being thrown into the bog to complete the drowning part of his triple death. (For the Celts in particular doing things in triplicate re-inforced the magic.) The strangling rope or halter may have signified the dedication of the sacrifice to the Goddess. It has been suggested that the Goddess worshippers of Northern Europe wore halters or neck collars to denote their subservience to her.[10]
In such cases the king became the scapegoat, bearing the ills to avert them from the community. The term ‘scapegoat’ originates in the Hebrew custom where a goat, chosen by lot, was ritually heaped with all the sins of the children of Israel, and had to carry them away into the wilderness. [11] In various cultures animals were chosen to take away evil and sickness, or sometimes wooden boats were symbolically loaded with the ills and floated away. In other cases a human scapegoat would be sacrificed or expelled from the district to propitiate the gods on behalf of a community. The most famous example of a scapegoat is Jesus Christ who is said to have died to save the world from its sins. A folklore survival of the scapegoat is perhaps to be found in the Burry Man, who makes his appearance at Queensferry in Scotland around Lammas. A man with is covered from head to foot in sharp burrs and paraded around the town. It seems likely that at one time he would have been expelled from the town, taking with him the ills of the society and deflecting blight from the harvest.
In ancient Greece the expulsion of the pharmakeiai (scapegoats) was meant to dispel the forces of evil, ensure fertility and prevent sterility. The scapegoats might be driven from the city (if they were lucky) or sacrificed, either at an annual festival or during times of famine and pestilence. They were cast from high rocks into the sea, thrown into the river, or burned on wild wood and the ashes cast into the sea. Occasionally they were cast into a crevasse.
Sometimes an inanimate object was the scapegoat. At Delphi an effigy was made of a plague demon, struck on the face with a shoe, carried off to a ravine and buried with a rope around her neck. Note the halter again. This reinforces the idea that the haltered bog bodies were sacrificed to deflect the forces of blight. It has been suggested that the scarecrow or mawkin was originally an inanimate scapegoat. [12] (The corn dolly was a different matter, and contained the sprit of life, not bane.)
THE BULL
The Sunday nearest to the 1st August is known as Domhnach Crom Dubh (‘Crom Dubh Sunday’) in many parts of Ireland. Crom was an Pagan deity of whom little is known, though in Christian myth he is portrayed as an archetypal Pagan overcome by a Christian saint. In many accounts he is said to have been a Pagan chieftain who was converted to Christianity by St Patrick.
A central motif in many of these tales is that of a fearsome bull. The bull was important to Celtic culture as a symbol of aggression, strength and virility. In the story St. Patrick asks for food and Crom Dubh sends his bull in the hope that it will kill the saint, but instead it submits meekly to Patrick, allowing itself to be slaughtered and eaten. Crom Dubh is enraged by the failure of his plan and asks Patrick to return his bull, knowing the impossibility of his request. To his surprise the saint has the animal’s bones and hide put together and brings the beast back to life.
There are two different endings to the story- in some accounts Crom is so impressed by Patrick's powers that he willingly converts to Christianity, in others the resuscitated bull kills the Pagan chief. This myth is probably a folk-memory of custom of sacrificing an animal at Lughnasa. At Loch Maree, Scotland, and Cois Fhairrge, Ireland, bulls were sacrificed at Lughnasa as late as the eighteenth century.
Crom Dubh’s legends survive to this day in Irish stories about the rivalry between St. Patrick and Crom, who takes on the role of an archetypal Pagan who owns a magical bull. A bull was certainly concerned with the Lughnasa festival. At Loch Maree, Scotland, and Cois Fhairrge, Ireland, bulls were sacrificed in honor of Crom Dubh as late as the eighteenth century. The hide of the bull would be preserved after the sacrifice, and sleeping in it was a rite of divination. Bull imagery occurs in English Lughnasa stories of Jack the Tinkard who wore an impenetrable bull-hide, carried a hammer and was the master of many crafts and skills, and Tom Hackathrift who met a man in an impenetrable bull’s hide coat. If we look further afield the running of the bulls at Pamplona in Spain takes place in July, when young men prove their bravery by running through the streets among loose bulls.
In the Northern Hemisphere the constellation of Taurus disappears from the midnight sky from March to August (Old Lammas). The constellation is usually depicted as a white bull. Bulls are also associated with agriculture since oxen pull the plow, and so are often identified with earth gods, vegetation gods, moon gods, and gods who were said to have introduced agriculture. With the development of agriculture the cult of the bull became increasingly influencial. He impregnated the milk producing cows, and pulled the plow which tilled and seeded the earth. [15]
This July/August period is the festival of Dumuzi, the Wild Bull who is sacrificed and dies for his people, and of Osiris the sacred Apis bull, represented by a real bull which was killed when it reached the age of twenty five and replaced by a new bull- i.e. the Apis bull was ressusitated. Dionysus, the Greek vine god, rode on a white bull (Taurus), his totem animal. The women of Elis summoned him to the rites 'with his bull foot'. On the island of Tenedos a sacred cow was kept for Dionysus, and when it was pregnant it was treated like a woman. If the resulting calf was a bull it was sacrificed with the moon axe, the labrys. The Cretan Dionysus was said to have been killed on Zeus's orders, boiled in a cauldron and eaten by the Titans, though he did not die but lived eternally. The Cretans celebrated an annual feast of Dionysus, eating a bull as his surrogate.
Druids saw the sky god as father bull and the earth goddess as cow mother; god and goddesses are often visualized as bull and cow. Baal took the form of a bull to mate with his sister in the form of a cow, Zeus took the form of a bull to mate with Io in the form of a cow, while the Pasiphaë mated with the bull of Poseidon to produce the Minotaur. The Hindu goddess Aditi took the form of a divine cow, while Indra, the king of the gods, is often addressed as the Bull. The idea of the god as a bull who fertilizes the earth mother is very ancient. He is the bull of the moon, who dies and is ressurected. The original myths of the mother goddess and the sacred bull, like the institution of the sacred king, were connected with the early development of agriculture in the Near East, and were to retain their form and influence for millenia.
The thunder of the bull’s hooves associate it with storm/sky gods such as the Greek Zeus and the Russian Perun, to whom a human sacrifice was made in July each year at the festival of first fruits. In ancient Sumeria, the bull god Enlil was the god of storm and fertility. He was believed to ensure that waters flowed, and that crops grew. He was addressed as 'Father’, ‘Exalted Overpowering Ox’, ‘Lord of the World of Life’, and ‘Powerful Chief of the Gods’. The human king was identified with the god and shared his title 'Wild Bull', wearing a bull's head head-dress or bull's horns as a symbol of his power, virility, and divine right to rule. There was a reciprocal identification of the god with the king demonstrated by attaching long, curled beards to images of the bull god; beards were symbols of strength and masculinity.
In ancient times the king sat on a throne which had bull’s feet. The sacred king and his queen performed a ritual mating on a couch with bull’s feet prior to the harvest, possibly just before the killing of the king. It seems that the rituals of love and death were closely linked for the unfortunate monarch, and this may explain the origin of the folk customs of mating at the start of the harvest, such as the trial marriages and handfastings in our Lughnasa survivals. Note that they are for one year only- the original period of the sacred king’s rule.
Bulls were considered to be highly suitable sacrifices, with white bulls being dedicated to benign or sky gods, and black bulls sacrificed to the powers of the underworld. Because bulls were considered such mighty animals, bulls’ blood was thought to be a powerful fertilizer. Diluted it was used to enrich the fruit orchards of Greece and Crete. However, neat blood was so potent it was said to be deadly poisonous to any living being except a sibyl (prophetess) or priest of the earth goddess. It was considered an aid to prophecy.
THE DOG DAYS
Though the festival of Lughnasa or Lammas was celebrated only in Ireland, Britain, Gaul and perhaps northern Spain, this time of year marked important festivals in other parts of the world.
The heliacal rising of the Dog Star, Sirius, on 27th July, marked the beginning of the Dog Days, when the sun burns at its most fierce. [16] The Dog Star follows Orion the Hunter about the sky. The ancient Greeks and Romans thought that it was a distant sun that at this time of year rose with our sun to add its own heat, making the weather unbearable. Its influence was considered baneful and malign. Hesiod described it as 'a desiccating sun', burning up plants, making the seeds in the earth sterile by depriving them of food. Animals die of thirst, vines are burned and humans are prostrated with fevers and illness, especially siriasis (a type of meningitis which attacks young children). According to these ancients, the Dog Days are a time of cruel heat when men's skins are burned and their throats parched with thirst. In fact, the Greeks imagined the constellation of Canis Major in the form of a rabid dog with its tongue lolling and its eyes bulging.
It was during this time that the Adonia Festival was celebrated,[17] as Theophrastus said 'when the sun is at its most powerful'. During the festival women would plant small gardens- called Gardens of Adonis- in clay pots or wicker baskets. During this time of year the great heat gives an impetus to plant growth, but this can become leggy and spindly, outgrowing its strength, while young shoots wither in dryness. At the culmination of the festival the gardens were then taken from the roofs and cast in to the sea or into springs.
The ancient Romans astronomer Manilius said of Sirius that its heat brought out the worst in people, with anger, hatred and fear, impetuosity, frayed tempers and arguments, all fanned by alcohol. At such times, he said, people would go out hunting, to take things out on 'all legitimate prey' without any caution or fear, since the rage engendered by Sirius drove them to it. The Romans also called Sirius Janitor Lethasus the 'Keeper of Hell', a type of Cerberus figure guarding the lower heavens, the abode of demons. Also held in Rome this month was the Heracleia, held to honor the hero-god Hercules, sometimes compared to Lugh. Like Lughnasa this festival was celebrated with games and contests.
The ancient Asyrians called the Dog Star 'Dog of the Sun' or 'Star Dog of the Sun'. The Assyrian month of Abu meant 'fiery hot' because the sun was in Leo and therefore raging and hot like a lion. It coincided with July-August and our Lughnasa period.
Tammuz is the Akkadian or Assyro-Babylonian equivalent to the Sumerian Dumuzi and the Syrian Adonis, a vegetation god of death and resurrection. He was the lover of the goddess Ishtar and died every year during the hot month of Tammuz (July-August), gored by a boar. His soul was taken to the underworld and the goddess Ishtar led the lamentation, as the world mourned his death with the keening of women. The women mourned Tammuz every year during July-August (coinciding with our Lughnasa period), making little gardens like those of Adonis. After the gardens had been thrown into the sea they rejoiced, for the god had been reborn.
The Babylonian equivalent of Tammuz is Dumuzi, the consort of the goddess Inanna and a prominent fertility god of the death and resurrection type. Dumuzi was lamented when the dry heat of summer caused the pastureland to brown and wither, and lambing, calving and milking to come to an end. [18] He was called the Wild Bull who was sacrificed, who lay down and lived no more. As he is called the God of the Abyss (Dumuzzi-Absu) it may be assumed that the sacrificed god became king of the underworld, like the Egyptian Osiris.
The Dog Star Sirius is called Lokabrenna ('the Burning of Loki' or ‘Loki’s Brand’). Sif ('Relative') was the wife of Thor, the god of thunder. She had beautiful golden hair until Loki cut it all off for a prank. Thor was so angry that he wanted to kill the trickster, but Loki was able to persuade the dwarfs to make some magical hair for Sif, which once it touched her head, would grow like her own hair. It is clear that Sif's hair is the golden corn, which is cut and regrows with the next year, making her a corn or harvest goddess. Her husband is the thunder god who brings the fertilizing rain to the earth in the summer, to make it grow. Loki, usually described as a god of wildfire and heat is associated here with Sirius and the heat of the Dog Days, which causes the ripening and subsequent cutting of the grain. Perhaps his role in the change of the seasons is commemorated in the story of how he tricks blind Hoder (who represents darkness) into killing his brother Baldur (the sun god) with a small dart made from mistletoe. As the name of Lugh if often said to be, Loki's name is related to the Latin lux meaning 'light', also the Old English leoht ('light') and liechan 'to enlighten'.
In late July the first heliacal (i.e. just before sunrise) rising of the Dog Star occurs in Egypt. Unlike other parts of the world the effects of Sirius were considered beneficial, and its appearance was thought to cause the yearly rising of the flood waters in the Nile Delta. Egyptians called the star Septit -or Sothis in the Greek form of the name- and identified it with the goddess Isis. [19] She appeared in the Pyramid texts as the chief mourner for her husband, the vegetation god Osiris, whom she brought back to life with magic. Osiris chose to remain in Amenti ('West') the Land of the Dead to act as the judge of souls. The Osiris cult merged with the sacred bull Apis early on. A real bull was honored as his living image. The bull is an ancient symbol of strength, kingship and virility.
The Canaanit god Baal was the son of the supreme god El and a death and resurrection god of the Adonis/Dumuzi/Tammuz type. His cult animal was a bull. His chief enemy was Mot, the god of sterility and death, and the representative of the desiccating summer. The two fought and Baal was killed, but before he died he became a bull and mated with a cow so that he could ensure the continuing of the world.
Throughout Eastern Europe there are a multitude of traditions associated with harvest-time. In ancient days, on the 20th July a sacrifice was offered to the thunder god Perun; this was necessary to placate the deity and prevent him from sending late summer storms to destroy the crops. The human victim was chosen by ballot. A bull would also be sacrificed and eaten during a communal feast.
LUGH
While some writers state, without hesitation, that Lugh was a sun god [20] others, with equal force, argue that he was neither a god of the sun nor harvest. [21] Lugh's adventures are related in the Irish Mythological Cycle, written down by monks in the eighth and ninth centuries when elements from biblical sources and Greek and Roman myth frequently crept in. Writing about the Gauls circa 52 BCE, the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar said: 'The god they reverence most is Mercury. They have very many images of him and regard him as the inventor of all arts, the god who directs men upon their journeys, and their most powerful helper in trade and getting money.' [22] Though Caesar equated this paragon with the Roman deity Mercury the evidence suggests that Lugh was the object of their veneration.
The continental Celts knew him as Lugus and his cult rose to prominence and became widespread throughout the Celtic world from the middle of the Iron Age onwards. There are some inscriptions to Lugoves, a plural of Lugus, which may mean that the god may have occasionally appeared as a Trinity.[23] Many place-names throughout the central and western parts of Europe provide evidence of his importance to the Celts. Lyons in France was once the capital of Gaul and was called Lugdunum, ' the Fort of Lugus’, while Carlisle in Britain was Caer Lugubalion. It is possible that London, the capital city of England, was named after Lud, meaning 'the Fortress of Lud'. Other examples include Leiden, Laon, Loudon, Leiden, Laon, Lauzun, and Liegnitz- all meaning 'Fortress of Lud'. [24] In the Celtic world a fort may indeed be a fortified place, but can also refer to an earthwork, mound or hill associated with otherworldly characters. There is a Ludgate Hill near Saint Paul's Cathedral in London where, according to one tale, the god is buried. [25]
The cult of Lugh was a latecomer into Ireland, introduced around the time of Christ by Gaulish or British refugees fleeing from the advancing Roman armies; there was a great migration of British Celts into Ireland at that time. [26] Lugh and his festival soon supplanted the earlier harvest lore, becoming one of the four focal points of the year in the early Irish calendar.
Lugh's name has presented a translation problem for scholars. Robert Graves believed that it was connected with the Latin lux meaning 'light' or with lucus meaning 'grove'. [27] Dr. Daithi O HOgain argues that the name is more likely to be derived from a Celtic word lugio meaning 'oath', making him the patron of sworn contracts. [28] There is some evidence that the cult of Lugh originated much further east. Lugh's name may be connected with ancient Mesopotamia where the title of the sacred king was lugal. There is a Sumerian god called Ninurta, titled Lugalbanda, whose exploits are detailed in the Lugal-e. He was lord of the plough and master of the fields, also the young warrior and champion of the gods, as well as being an ancient thunder god who brought the storms that gave life to the land. The Farmer's Almanac (1700 BCE), an instructive manual on how to grow barley, praises him as 'the life giving semen.[29]
Lugh has several titles, including Lámhfhada ('long-armed') referring to his magical spear, which flashed or roared aloud when it was used in battles. This seems to be clear reference to lightening and thunder. According to one Irish saying during thunderstorms
'Lugh Long-arm's wind is flying in the air tonight
Yes, and the sparks of his father Balor Béimann.'
The Welsh Llew was equally called Llaw Gyffes or 'accurate arm'. It is possible that Lugh had aspects as a thunder god. Lugh is also titled Samhioldánach ('equally skilled in all the arts'), a supreme craftsman. The Welsh Llew is called 'the one with the skilful hand'.
The pattern of their relationship followed the seasons- they married in spring and their love caused the earth to flower and blossom. With the autumn her lover, the spirit of summer vegetation, died and descended to the underworld realm of the dead. She followed him there and released him again when spring came, and the cycle began anew. This story is reflected in the tales of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, Dumuzi, Baal, Jesus and many more. The old folksong John Barleycorn tells the story of the spirit of the grain, in this case barley. John Barleycorn, the spirit of the corn, is cut down and buried in the earth, seeming to be dead, but when the spring rains come he is resurrected and grows with the summer sun. With the late summer he begins to wither and weaken, and his head droops. He ages as autumn comes and his enemies cut him down. They tie him up on a cart (the sheaves of corn are gathered, tied and carted away), they beat him up (flail the grain), wash him, toss him about (winnow the grain), roast the marrow from his bones (scorch the grain) and grind him between two stones (mill the grain), then drink his blood (the alcohol brewed from the barley).
This echoes the story of the Egyptian Osiris imprisoned in a coffin (buried), dismembered and scattered (the corn is winnowed and the seeds scattered) and resurrected (the seedcorn grows in the spring). Adonis, Tammuz and Dumuzi are also torn apart, forced to go into the underworld and resurrected in the spring. The Cannanite Mot was killed, winnowed, parched with fire, ground and scattered.
When vegetation gods ‘die’ they are said to go into the underworld (the seed is planted). Here they often become kings of the underworld and the dead- Crom Dubh was underworld ruler of the mounds, Osiris was Lord of the Dead, Dumuzi was Lord of the Abyss, Adonis was the lover of the Queen of the Underworld and so on.
THE CROOKED GOD
Though the king had to be physically perfect and the scapegoat was ugly and deformed, there is often a link between the legendary sacred king and the scapegoat. When the king was disfigured or became metaphorically crooked in the eyes of the gods, he was killed or expelled.
Another explanation is that the lameness was metaphorical, and referred to crookedness of actions or illegitimacy of descent which brought divine retribution on the kingdom. [30] Such a theory might be borne out by a story recorded by Xenophon. [31] An oracle warned Sparta to beware of a ‘lame kingship’ when there was a competition for the throne between the lame Agesilaus and Leotychidas, who was rumored not to be the true son of the last king but the offspring of an adulterous relationship of his mother’s. Lysander convinced the people that the oracle did not speak of a man with a bad leg, but that the kingship would be lame (i.e. crooked) when the true descendant of Herakles was not on the throne.
Yet gain, the king may have been ritually lamed on becoming king or lamed prior to death. Robert Graves has a contrived- and frankly implausible- explanation of Llew's bath and goat balancing act as method of laming the sacred king. Possibly the laming had to do with marring the perfection of the king so that he could be killed, or possibly he was hobbled in some way leading up to the ritual of sacrifice.
It may seem strange to refer to a god as ‘crooked’, but gods of the underworld were generally considered crooked in some way. Priestesses wore one sandal when invoking them. Apollo, the bright and handsome sun god of Greece both brought plagues (with hot and feverish weather) and cured them (as god of healing). He was visualized both as shooting plague arrows into cities, and shooting creatures that brought plague. In this role he presided over the sacrifice or expulsion of scapegoats and was titled ‘crooked’. Apollo was the patron of all those cast out from the community, including those who went off to found colonies.
The Irish Crom Dubh is ‘Black Crooked One’ or ‘Black Bowed One’, also called Crom Cruach or Cenn Cruaich ('the Bowed One of the Mound') and was a sacrificial god associated with the beginning of August. His importance may be discerned from the fact there are far more stories of Crom Dubh connected with Lughnasa than there are of Lugh. Though many Irish people have never heard of the festival of Lughnasa they have certainly heard its alternate name Crom Dubh's Day (or Sunday).
Crom Dubh’s Day is the occasion for a pilgrimage up a high hill or mountain such as Croagh Patrick. This was a holy hill in Pagan times, taken over by Saint Patrick, possibly considered a natural harvest mound or Goddess womb in the manner of Silbury Hill.
The 11th century Book of Leinster states 'In a rank stand twelve idols of stone; bitterly to enchant the people the figure of Crom was of gold.' This is thought to refer to a circle of standing stones at Magh Sléacht near Killycluggin (the plain of Tullyhaw in County Cavan) in the sacred number of thirteen- the sacred king and his twelve companions. [32] It may be that in ancient times a human sacrifice was made here, perhaps selected in the games. It seems likely that the sacrifice would have been haltered and lamed, actually or symbolically. Crom Dubh, the god who presided over the sacrifice was also ‘crooked’. He is thought to belong to the religion of the ancient Irish, before the time of the Celtic invaders. The earliest written account of him refers to an idol at Magh Sléacht worshipped by King Tignermas and his followers, at which human sacrifices were made. This statue is said to have sunk into the ground after St Patrick demolished it, and indeed, the stone circle stands in ruins. In most of the folklore he is called Crom Dubh, characterized as the ‘dark croucher’ or the ‘old bent one’ and was identified with the devil.
It may be that after the sacrifice the victim was identified with the god, becoming a ‘crooked one’ and believed to be dwelling in the mound with the god as king of the dead.
In later ages Crom Dubh’s human sacrifice may have been substituted with a bull. On the north shore of Galway there is still a tradition that a beef animal must be roasted to ashes in honor of Crom Dubh on his festival day. It is possible that the bull was an avatar of the god, and that there was a yearly sacrifice of this bull with the substitution of a new bull, in the manner of the Egyptian Apis. In various versions of the story Patrick is said to have overcome or converted a Pagan called Crom Dubh, in some versions by resuscitating his dead bull.
According to another Lughnasa story Crom Dubh was buried up to his neck for three days and only released when the harvest fruits had been guaranteed. Crom is associated with the ancient mounds as an old agricultural god of the earth who caused the crops to ripen, as are the sidhe (‘people of the mounds’) or fairies of Celtic lore who are the descendants of such gods. They also have to be offered regular sacrifices in the form of milk. Crom is possibly an underworld god, like the Greek Hades (Roman Pluto) who captured Persephone (Proserpina). Hades/Pluto was both the guardian of underworld treasure (the minerals of the earth) and grain, which sprouts in the underworld.
In many parts of the world the festivals celebrated around our Lughnasa period relate to the effects of the Dog Days which make vegetation brown and wither, signaling the death of summer.
The Dog Star Sirius, called Alpha Canis Majoris by astronomers, is one of the brightest in the night sky and can even be seen in the daylight. Sirius is three times the mass of our Sun and ten times as bright. In mid-May Sirius sets in the west just after sunset, then is no longer visible for seventy days. It then appears rising in the east at sunrise and this is known as the heliacal rising of the star, occurring in late July and early August. The ancients believed that it added its own heat to that of the sun, causing very hot weather and exerting a baleful influence- dogs became mad, people became listless or ill, [33] streams and wells dried up, while plants withered and turned brown. It signaled the end of the period of growth, and therefore the end of summer. It seems that Lughnasa was celebrated at the end of this period (12th August) and marked the first day of autumn.
In the tale of Lugh we encounter his enemy and grandfather Balor, a tyrant who must be defeated. He is described as having a single baleful eye that poisons and withers all it looks upon. Dr. Ó HÓgáin reconstructs the original name of Balor as *Boleros, meaning 'the flashing one' from the ancient root *bhel meaning 'flash'. [34] The name of Sirius comes from a Greek word meaning 'sparkling' as it radiates a blue-white light, but when it is low on the horizon it can shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. Balor is also titled Bailcbhéimneach ('strong smiting') and Balar Biirug-derc (‘piercing-eyed’). [35]
Ancient classical writers, including Ptolemy and Diodorus Siculus, associate him with a promontory called Bolerion in Cornwall, England. This was most probably Land's End, to the southwest of the country. Balor is said to have died at Carn Ui Neit (the ‘Cairn of Net's Grandson’), Mizen Head in County Cork, Ireland- again the furthest south west point of the country. This association with south-western promontories is generally taken to indicate that Balor is some kind of deity associated with the setting sun- which sets in the west- but the south-west is also the setting point of Sirius.
Balor tried to trick Lugh into placing his head on top of Lugh’s own, and this may be a metaphor for the effect achieved when Sirius rises with the sun. Another one-eyed tyrant caused the death of King Conaire, who died with a raging thirst in his throat, perhaps a reference to the effects of the Dog Days.
Lughnasa is the time of year associated with the sacrifice of the sacred king or the death of the corn god, marked with wakes and funeral games. In many legends the dog is considered to be a psychopomp- a creature that conveys souls to the Otherworld. The Egyptian jackal/dog headed god Anubis, for example, is concerned with conveying the dead to the afterlife. In Greek myth the three headed dog Cerberus guarded the entrance to the Underworld. It can be no coincidence that the constellation of the Dog appears at the end of summer to convey the soul of the sacrificed sacred king/vegetation god to the Otherworld.
A scapegoat would be chosen to lead the powers of blight away from the harvest. The withering Gardens of Adonis may have been scapegoat gardens cast into the sea (in the manner of other types of scapegoats) to protect the real harvest. The appearance of the Queensferry Burry Man at Lammas is the remnant of a very ancient tradition, the scapegoat who is sacrificed to save the harvest. It may be that the Lughnasa games were originally a method of choosing such a scapegoat, or the sacred king who ruled until he became ‘crooked’ and the harvests failed. The king would then become the scapegoat, immolated on the harvest mound that represented the womb of the earth goddess, his blood used to fertilize the earth. In later ages the king may have appointed a proxy, a temporary king who was honored for a short time before being killed. Alternatively the substitute may have been a bull, associated with kingship and the power of the god, and whose blood was deemed to be a marvelous fertilizer in consequence.
Lugh was admitted to Tara because of something called ‘Lugh’s enclosure’. The Christian recorder seems to have taken this to mean a chess move, but the enclosure was a sacred mound, like Macha’s Enclosure where a gathering took place on her festival, 1st August. Its entrance was in the west (the direction of the setting sun), which connects it with death and sacrifice. Crom Dubh’s stone circle was on a hill and formed another enclosure. Human sacrifices took place there, later commuted to a bull offering. Perhaps the many ‘forts of Lugh’ were in fact enclosures of this kind. In Celtic a fort can be a mound or earthwork, as well as a fortified encampment. Classical writers recorded that gatherings took place at Lyon (‘Fort of Lugh’) on 1st August. The various forts of Lugh may well be ‘mounds of the oath’ or ‘mounds of the king’.
The evidence is overwhelming that Lugh was connected with sacred kingship. The sacred king was sacrificed on 1st August, his festival day. Lugh may be cognate with lugal the Mesopotamian term for the sacred king. Willow withies or lugos were used to bind or scourge the scapegoat, the sacred king or statues of the gods in Greece. These may be linguistic coincidences, but Lud or Lug appears so often in connection with kingship that it goes beyond the bounds of chance. Ronald Hutton (Stations of the Sun) speculated the word occurred so frequently that it must have had some other meaning for the Celts and could not always have been connected with the god. The word also appears on inscriptions in plural- lugoves. This might refer to a triple aspect of the god or to a number of sacred kings. Macha offered her sexual favors to three different kings, but as each approached she set on them and tied them up, forcing them to construct the enclosure for her. In other words, three sacred kings were married to the Sovereign Goddess, each in turn was taken to her enclosure, bound and sacrificed. The enclosure is her womb, standing for the whole of the productive land, and the actions of the king were answerable for its fertility. Lugh met his death on top of a hill, as did Balor.
One account says that Lugh’s battle with Balor took place at Samhain (31st October) but this must be a misreading or ‘improvement’ on the part of the myth recorder. This date has led to speculation that Lugh is the summer sun, opposing Balor the winter sun (the baleful eye). But Lugh wins the battle, so this is plainly nonsense. The forces of winter and blight triumph at Samhain. It is also said that Lugh is the dawn sun, while Balor is the setting sun. Lugh is often said to be a sun god, but this claim is based on very little evidence and some erroneous etymology. Lugh is not derived from the Latin lux but from lugos or ‘oath’, the oath of a king at his anointing. Cesar wrote that the Celts worshipped ‘Mercury’ who was the god of all arts, travel and commerce. He went on to say that next to him 'they reverence Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva, about whom they have the same ideas as other nations- that Apollo averts illness, and Minerva teaches the principles of industries and handicrafts; that Jupiter is king of the gods, and Mars the lord of war.' [39] He identifies the sun god as Apollo, separate from Lugh/Mercury who has no sun associations. The only thing in the legends of Lugh to associate him with the sun is the descriptions of him as having ‘a red color on him from sunset to sunrise’ and as wearing a shirt of red-gold. The red color might be connected with the red clouds of sunset and sunrise, but Lugh is red at night, he does not shine during the day.
Red is associated with death in the Celtic world. Red food is described as the food of the dead, and is taboo for humans. At the Hostel of Dá Derga (‘the Red’) Conaire the doomed king saw three red haired riders, accoutered with red armor, riding on three red horses.[40] Red horsemen convey the dead to the house of Donn, the god of the dead. Red is the color of completion and harvest. In Rome red haired puppies were sacrificed to influence the ripening of the corn, while in Egypt red-haired men were buried alive as a sacrifice to the god of the corn and the dead, Osiris.[41] Lugh’s red color was the mark of the sacred king, doomed to die.
When Nuadha became disqualified from kingship (became ‘crooked’) because of his lost arm Bres took over. Then Bres became crooked in another way- he was a bad king who oppressed his people. Nuadha acquired a silver arm and became king once more, but when Lugh proved how skillful he was, stood down for thirteen days to allow Lugh to lead the battle against the Formorians or forces of blight. This is further evidence that Lugh was not a sun god. He took over from Nuadha who had no associations with the sun at all: he was high king.
Nuadha is cognate with the British god Nodens who had a temple by the River Severn at Lydney in Gloucestershire, and with the god Nectan (‘water’?), Christianized as the Cornish saint Nectan, coupled with a magnificent waterfall near Tintagel that drops through a holed stone. Nuadha is also connected with water as the husband of the River Boinn. Nodens is the same god as the Welsh Nudd or Llud, father of Gwyn ap Nudd, lord of the underworld, and Llud or Lud or Lug, as we have seen, is found all over the Celtic world. We come full circle. All are high kings. In Welsh myth we find Llud Llaw Ereint (‘Ludd of the Silver Hand), equivalent to the Irish Nuadha of the Silver Hand. It is Lugh and Nuadha that are the same god, not Lugh and Balor.
Another crooked king with a lug prefix is King Lugaid mac Con who ruled from Tara for seven years. When he gave a false judgement the side of the house in which the decree had been given fell down the slope and became known as ‘the Crooked Mound of Tara’. After that, Lugaid was king in Tara for a year and ‘no grass grew, no leaves, and there was no grain.’ After this he was dethroned by his people for he was ‘a false prince’.
The story of Lugh corresponds to the many tales of boys born ‘crooked’ (illegitimate) that are predestined to kill their grandfathers. The story survives in fairy tales as the boy who wants to marry the princess and is set a task by the old king which is designed to kill him. The boy is the new sacred king who wants to marry the Sovereign Goddess, and the old king knows that once he has been chosen his own death is the inevitable result. The crooked birth foreshadows the boy’s own end as lamed and crooked king. The king is not an individual but a King with a capital K, one incarnation of the divine ruler. When one quitted his mortal body in death, his soul passed into the next incumbent. The story of the king replaced by his grandson or son, who is really the king himself, is paralleled in the myths of the corn gods such as Osiris, whose son Horus is himself reborn as the next year’s harvest.
There is plenty of evidence that the Divine King was associated with dogs. At the temple of Nodens several representations of dogs were discovered. Nudd is father of Gwyn ap Nudd, Lord of the Wild Hunt who rides out with a pack of dogs. Lugh is the father or grandfather of Cuchulain, ‘Hound of Chulain’. The dog is associated with the underworld realm of the dead, and often guides the soul to the Land of the Dead. In late July and early August the Dog Star rose with the sun to threaten the crops with its baleful, withering eye, but at the end of that period the same cosmic dog accompanied the soul of the sacrificed king to the realm of the gods.
The date of Lugh’s festival irrefutably connects him to the harvest. It is celebrated on hills and mounds, and ancient enclosures. He is appointed for king for thirteen days only, a substitute for the maimed king, to protect the harvest for the period of the Dog Days. [42] At Old Lammas, 12th August, the Dog Days end and he wins the secrets of the harvest from Bres- the harvest begins. Then he is lamed and meets a triple death, haltered and stabbed on top of the hill and drowned in the nearby river or well. His blood fertilizes the earth.
After his death Lugh rules in the Otherworld within the mounds as King of the Dead, with the Goddess of Sovereignty as his wife. He is then known as lugh-chromain ‘little stooping Lugh’ and this is the origin of the leprechaun. Like Crom Dubh he is a crooked one of the mounds.
Another popular misconception is that Lughnasa was a fire festival. It was not. It was associated with water and earth. Fire played no part unless you count incidental fires to cook the feast. The practice of calling the four Celtic cross-quarter festivals ‘the fire festivals’ is a modern one. Fire is just as closely associated with the solstices and equinoxes, for obvious reasons.
Pagans today honour the sacrifice of the God at Lammas. As the vegetation spirit he dies so that we might live and eat. At the Autumn Equinox he will enter into the womb of the Goddess, as the seed enters the earth. At Samhain he rules as King of the Dead and at Yule he is reborn with the sun and the cycle of growth begins once more.
The ripening crops have to be protected from the forces of blight that come in with the autumn, and from the floods and winds associated with Lughnasa. In Irish mythology this is symbolized by the battle between Lugh, the sun god, and Balor, a fearful one-eyed giant and leader of the Formorians, gods of blight.
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