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Tailtiu and Lúnasa are closely connected in Irish mythology and cultural history. Tailtiu was a Firbolg Queen, a Goddess who cleared the land for farming, and when she died, the Tuatha Dé Danann God Lugh, her foster son, started a festival to remember and honour her, or so the stories say.
This festival, called Lúnasa, happens on the first of August and celebrates the beginning of the harvest. People enjoy games, feasting, and gathering together, indeed 2024 marks the Centenary of the Tailteann Games.
By learning about the origins of Lúnasa and how this Pagan Festival honours Tailtiu, we can better appreciate this important and lasting tradition in Irish culture.
✨A Guest Post by Morgan Daimler
Lúnasa is one of the four Irish fire festivals, the most significant holidays across Irish folk practice and mythology.
There are many modern practices associated with this time of year and this holiday but we also find that the practices have deep roots which go back into mythology, with several references to Lúnasa which provide us with insight into why and how this date was celebrated as well as the significance it held for people a thousand years and more ago.
Táiltiu and the Lúnasa Games
Examining four examples of these references can help people today better understand the holiday as it was and the way that it has evolved.
Tailltiu daughter of Mag Mor king of Spain, queen of the Fir Bolg, came after the slaughter was inflicted upon the Fir Bolg in that first battle of Mag Tuired to Coill Cuan: and the wood was cut down by her, so it was a plain under clover-flower before the end of a year.
This is that Tailtiu who was wife of Eochu son of Erc king of Ireland till the Tuatha De Danann slew him as predicted: it is he who took her from her father, from Spain; and it is she who slept with Eochu Garb son of Dui Dall of the Tuatha De Danann; and Cian son of Dian Cecht, whose other name was Scal Balb, gave her his son in fosterage, namely Lugh, whose mother was Eithne daughter of Balor.
So Tailltiu died in Tailltiu, and her name was on it and her grave is from the Seat of Tailltiu north-eastward. Her games were performed every year and her song of lamentation, by Lugh. With gessa and feats of arms were they performed, a fortnight before Lugnasad and a fortnight after: it is called Lughnasadh, that is, the celebration or the festival of Lugh. Hence Oengus said after a long time, ‘the games of Lug’.
– Lebor Gabála Érenn
The Tuatha Dé Danann God Lugh is strongly associated with the festival of Lúnasa, which bears his name, although it is more properly understood as a memorial for his foster mother Tailtiu.
Lúnasa in old Irish is Lughnasadh meaning funeral assembly of Lugh while in middle Irish the name means games or assembly of Lugh; in modern Irish Lúnasa is both the name of the holiday and of the entire month of August.
Despite the name the holiday was never seen as being focused on Lugh’s funeral but rather was named for him because he initiated these games and assemblies.
According to the Lebor Gabala Erenn, quoted above, Lugh instituted the games of Lúnasa in honor of his foster mother after she died clearing the plain that bore her name, which the town located there still does today: Tailtin (Teltown in English).
Tailtiu -A Sovereignty Goddess at Lúnasa
Today many Lúnasa celebrations center on Saint Patrick as a divine protector of the harvest but it is likely that Lugh originally held this role and was only later replaced when the new religion came in.
The idea that Tailtiu died clearing plains for use reflects a pattern we find among several Irish Goddesses of clearing land for civilization and dying which may echo an older creation myth that is now lost.
We see examples of this earth-shaping and dying motif not only with Tailtiu but also with Macha and in some versions of the Cailleach’s mythology.
Online Classes to Look Out For…
- 🔗 Rediscovering Ireland’s Hidden Goddesses (including Tailtiu!)
- 🔗 The Sovereignty Goddess in Ireland
- 🔗 The Cailleach in Irish Lore
- 🔗 Lúnasa in Ireland
In these creation and sovereignty myths the Goddess reshaped the land by clearing it or creating its current appearance.
This is an effort which results in her death, and afterwards the area is named for the Goddess, forever reflecting her connection to it.
This may also explain why the holiday is connected to Tailtiu, as it could reflect an older celebration centred on the Goddess’s sacrifice towards creation.
…[A]nd at each Lughnasa, or ‘Lammas-tide’, the Convention of Taillte. All precepts and all enactments which in either of these festivals were ordained by the men of Ireland, during the whole space of that year none might infringe.
– The Birth of Aedh Slaine
Tailtiu’s memorial games are one of the four main Irish Fire Festivals, along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Bealtaine.
This Pagan Holiday of Lúnasa was one of the most significant of the year, a time famous for assemblies and fairs, called oenacha in Old Irish.
Gatherings Honouring Tailtiu at Lúnasa
An alternate name for this holiday in the area of Tailtin was Oenach Tailtiu or Aonach Taillten – ‘The Fair/ Festival/ Gathering of Tailtiu’. According to the Bethada náem nÉrenn, the Oenach Tailtiu was one of the three primary Oenacha in Ireland, showing its significance.
These gatherings featured games of skill and horse racing, both on flat tracks and through water, and in a wider sense were the precursors to modern harvest fairs.
The holiday in folk practice focuses on the celebration of the beginning of the harvest with things like dressing holy wells, horse races, athletic games, and the preparations of special foods particularly baked goods.
It was also a time for marriages called ‘Teltown marriages’, which would last only a year if the couple chose to separate after that time.
Traditionally Lunasa celebrations went on for about a month, beginning two weeks before the first of August and extending two weeks afterwards.
Brón Togain and the Timing of Lúnasa
While the common name for the festival today is Lúnasa it is likely that it had another, possibly older, name as well.
In the Tochmarc Emire, a story which may date to the 8th century, we find the quote given below which offers the alternate name of Brón Trogain, ‘sorrow of earth’, and then relates the name to the idea of the earth weighed down by the harvest.
To Brón Trogain, that is Lammas-day, namely, the beginning of autumn; for it is then the earth is afflicted, in other words, the earth under fruit. Trogan is a name for ‘earth’.
– Tochmarc Emire
Máire MacNeill suggests that the name may also relate to the concept of birth, through the use of the word trogain elsewhere in an idiom for the same, metaphorically suggesting that the earth is giving birth to the harvest.
The passage ties Lúnasa to the changing of the seasons, moving from summer into autumn, and from the growing season to the harvesting time.
It was on Saturday, the first day of August, that Slainge put into Inber Slainge;
– description of the arrival of the Fir Bolg in Ireland from the Cét-Cath Maige Tuired
The exact dating of any of the holidays is more difficult than people may think and often controversial. With Lúnasa this is also true, although part of that complication is that the holiday was always expansive and covered several weeks rather than a single date.
Despite this in older texts it is often associated with the first of August, as the manuscripts give each of the fire festivals on the first of the month in which they occur, perhaps explaining why those months in Irish (barring only Imbolc) each bear the name of the holiday that begins them.
Across Irish mythology we see many important events, especially the arrivals of various mythic peoples, happening on holy days, most often Bealtaine.
However Lúnasa is also significant in this way, noted in the First Battle of Moytura as the date on which the Fir Bolg arrived in Ireland.
This is particularly interesting given that Tailtiu, after whom the holiday was dedicated, was a queen of the Fir Bolg.
Tailtiu’s Legacy at Lúnasa
Lúnasa is a time of year that juxtaposes the need for hard work to bring the harvest in with the fun of the harvest fairs, just as the myths around the holiday emphasize both the sadness of Tailtiu’s death as well as the joy of the gift she gave in wresting order from chaos.
It is an opportunity to appreciate what we have and what it has taken to get what we need to survive, as much as it is a time to compete in races and games to show off our own skill.
Perhaps this dual nature explains to some degree the persistence of Lúnasa celebrations in folk practices and their widespread and diverse nature.
We can all find some aspect of this holiday that we can embrace and celebrate.
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Very interesting. I really enjoyed it. May I save it for future reference? Is there somewhere a pronunciation guide for Irish names? Thank you.
Of course. We have pronunciation guides for various topics on the Irish Pagan School YouTube Channel
This post came with perfect timing for me. I’ve just started taking a few classes and felt like I liked Tailtiu and wanted to know more about her, especially before Lunasa. Thank you!
[…] This Irish God is celebrated well during the festival of Lúnasa (Lughnasadh), which marks the beginning of the harvest season – first fruits. This festival, while named for himself, famously was the time of the Tailteann Games held in honour of his Firbolg foster mother Tailtiu. […]