Lughnasa is the beginning of harvest season. It’s the mid-point of summer (also called Lughnasadh or Lammas). It is a busy time in the garden! So many delicious things are coming into harvest now. Lughnasa is when we pause & celebrate that.

We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor. We’re beginning to see that all the effort we’ve put in so far this growing season is beginning produce in some way. This is a time to celebrate all the hard work you’ve put in this year. This growing season began at the winter solstice, and really began to kick into gear during spring. You deserve a moment to celebrate all the work you’ve put in! (Even if your brain tries to tell you, you haven’t ‘done anything’. It’s a lie. You have. Celebrate that!)

Lughnasa is a time to pause. It’s a time to celebrate what’s already growing in the garden & in your life. It’s a time to acknowledge all the hard work that has gone into tending & cultivating the crops for the year. And, it’s a time to pray for the harvest still to come.

There are still crops that will grow & bear fruit. And there is still a lot of work to be done this year. This is a time to pray that everything will continue to go well for the harvest season ahead & that you will have the strength to continue to work on everything you are growing – in the garden & in your life.

Here are 8 ways you can observe Lughnasa:

1. Hold a Personal Harvest Ritual 

Lughnasa is the start of harvest season. This is the first of 3 harvest festivals (ending with Samhain/Halloween). So this is a powerful time to connect with everything you still hope to harvest in your life this year.

Reflect on the things you wanted to grow in your life, back when spring was just beginning. What seeds did you plant then? What have you been cultivating these first months of summer?

Lughnasa is a great time to revisit these spring intentions. Reconnect with the things you’ve been working on growing. How can you continue to nurture this growth? How can you move your dreams forward in the coming weeks?

Light a candle & send a wish to the Universe for these harvests to blossom in your life. You’ve been working hard this season. Trust the Universe has already aligned to bring these things into your life.

Breathe deep & meditate on these things coming to fruition. What does it look like & feel like when these things come to life for you? Spend a few minutes in meditation.

Say a prayer of thanks to the Universe, the goddess, Mother Earth–whoever feels right for you–for all the abundance coming into your life. Then blow out your candle.

2. Reflect with these Lughnasa Journal Qs

Here are 7 questions to connect with the power & energy of Lughnasa. Click here.

3. Bake Bread

Lammas is an ancient celebration of the first grain harvest of the season. Grain has been an important crop to almost every civilization since nearly the beginning of time. It’s easy for us to forget how hard our ancestors worked when, in the modern world, we simply run to the store for a loaf of bread. For our ancestors, taking care of their crops was the difference between life and death. By baking bread today we honor our ancestors and the hard work they endured in order to survive.

4. Go to a Farmer’s Market.

Go to your local Farmer’s Market for groceries this week. Connect with the produce being harvested right now. Can you find some fresh corn?!

5. Connect with your inner warrior.  

For the ancient Celts this was a time to celebrate Lugh. (Hence the name, Lughnasadh.) Lugh is a Celtic sun god & a skilled craftsmen & warrior. Now is a powerful time to connect with that fierce part of yourself to finish all the hard work still to come this year.

One simple way to do this is to practice a ‘Warrior Pose’ each morning. You can find great instruction on the various yoga ‘warrior poses’, here. Pick one to practice each morning this season.

6. Make Straw Dolls

Here are some simple instructions for creating your straw doll, click here.

This page describes this as a good project for Imbolc/Candlemas. But, I think it’s also brilliant project for this time of year, as we are celebrating the grain harvest. You can also use any reed-type plants to create these lovely dolls.

This is a great project to celebrate Lughnasa with any kids in your life!

7. Go Berry Picking

We have entered the time of summer that some of the North American native people referred to as The Ripening Time, when the fruit on the vines & the trees began to ripen. Find a place to go pick something near you.

8. Watch the Sunset

As you do, reflect on things coming to a close in your life. Where are things declining? Where have you noticed yourself turning inward?