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Lughnasadh E2: The Celtic Olympics · Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friend, welcome to Wild Kin, where we reconnect to Celtic myths one story at a time.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Jess,
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: and I'd love for you to pull up a chair by my fire as we step into the celebration
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: of Lunasa, a time for games and gathering.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You might actually be surprised at how universal this tradition is within our modern world.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So let's step back in time As a man reaches the fair after three days
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: of walking down a dusty path, ready to meet his match.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: The place announced itself long before he saw it.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: First there was wood smoke,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: then the smell of roasting meat, followed by hoofprints stamping into churned earth.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: All carried across music drifting on the breeze.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: After days of only hearing the wind in the trees, this growing noise was jarring.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: This was the most people he had ever seen in one place.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tents filled the entire field.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Stretching in every direction with colors of all the tribes of their island.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Some he knew,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: stitched from cloth and colors his own people traded with,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: and some he'd only heard about from stories shared from passersby in his village.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: He passed by the boundary stone where a squat, unremarkable man was stationed.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He was reminding every traveler what passing by this way meant.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: This was a place of peace.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: No fighting,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: no tribal grievances or blood debts were to be challenged,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: for all those who travel here were protected and remain so as long as
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: the fair lasted.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: This was no small task to ask of men,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: especially now as he even noticed someone from a rival kingdom two steps in front
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: of him, whom his father had a deep grudge against.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: But he would not confront the man,
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: As instead,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: he adjusted his pack and went searching for the source of the smell of
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: that delicious roasted meat.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Soon he found his own kin's tent by the marker his cousin had described.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Three poles lashed together with a red cord,
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: close enough to the game's grounds to hear them,
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: but far enough away to sleep despite them.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: His cousin was already there,
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: favoring the arm that had never quite healed right from
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: the last festival two years ago.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: He passed a judge seated on a log with his arms crossed,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: silently listening to two farmers arguing.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: As he passed by,
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: he caught their dispute,
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: which was about a cow that had wandered somewhere it shouldn't have
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: and calved definitely where it shouldn't have.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: He walked deeper into the crowd.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: On a rise at the center of the field sat a cluster of tents far grander than
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: the rest, marked with banners he knew well.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Twenty places,
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: someone had told him,
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: reserved for the king of Terah and the men who rode with him,
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: with space on either side for the other kingdoms.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: All gathered under one sky to watch these games.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: A sign of their dedication to the well-being of their people.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: He was still looking at the banners when a woman crossed in front of him,
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: chasing a loose piglet.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: She was laughing as she caught the pink squealing thing before she caught the man's eye.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Even after she blushed and moved on,
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: he made a private note to find that stretch of fairground again before
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: the week was out.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: He hadn't forgotten the possibility of hand-fasting either.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: As he reached the edge of the field, the dust settled before a low mound covered in green.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: This was the resting place of Talcha, whose legacy created this gathering in the first place.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: He lingered long enough for a silent blessing before he caught the sound
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: of raised voices nearby announcing the beginning of a match.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: The sound of names being called as his stomach twisted into knots.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: For tomorrow,
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: he would step forward into that arena,
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: rolling his shoulders back to see how he fared against the other men of this land.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: On August 1st,
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: people throughout the Celtic world gather for Lunasa,
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: a great fair held at the turn of the summer season.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Though today this holiday might seem strange,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: it's actually one of the most well-documented of the ancient Celtic holidays.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Unlike other cultures that honor the solstices and equinoxes,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: the Celts focused on celebrating cross-quarter days,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: as in the days marked directly between these solar events.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Lunasa is one of them, landing on August 1st.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: From last week's episode,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: we know from medieval texts that the Irish festival originated from
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: a figure named Talcha and the relationship she had with her foster son, Lou.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Found within a myth in the Book of Invasions,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Queen Talcha single-handedly clears a forest to help her people grow crops.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: But she ultimately dies from this enormous effort.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And in turn, her foster son Lou, the Sun God, created this festival in her honor.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's said she's buried on a mound near Telltown in County Meath,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: and for generations this festival was filled with games and traditions in honor
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: of her sacrifice.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Other versions of her story specifically list activities like athletic competitions,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: legal proceedings, matchmaking, trading, and funeral rites for the dead.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: But today, Talcha typically isn't mentioned in the more generalized version of the holiday.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: The story has shifted its focus to Lou,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hence the name Lunasa,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: which is a combination of his name and Nasa meaning assembly or commemoration.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: But even though these traditions are based on myths,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: they are part of a much larger tradition of the real festival that was celebrated
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: for generations.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: In fact,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: within Roman records,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: we know versions of Lunasa have taken place for at least a millennia.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: This was part of a very real tradition of kings being required
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: to gather their communities together at ancient sites, typically burial mounds.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: This was especially prominent in Ireland,
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: held by the King of Terra,
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: and historically might have been treated as a national event.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: A 20th century study describes how seats were reserved for the king and his retinue,
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: along with the kings of Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Canact, and more.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone traveling to this event from no matter the distance fell within a nationwide truce.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: No feuds were allowed,
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: protected by law, and people would be fined or punished if they broke this truce.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: We know this also from a monastic story of St. Patrick himself, who visited one of these fairs.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: He apparently approved of the practice as it continued to be celebrated even with
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: the rise of Christianity.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And as for what actually happened...
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was a time to compete, and likely show off in front of other villages too.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on your age,
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: competitors might take on hurling,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: swimming,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: jumping,
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: or work their way up to wrestling,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: horseback riding, and stone pudding as they got older.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: It almost sounds similar to our modern Olympics, just with a Celtic twist.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's even an ancient law document called Sports Judgments that defines how
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: to sort out the injuries.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: One of the categories was being fined for throwing a spear into a crowd.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: So suffice it to say, it sounds like lawsuits were pretty common.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And amidst all the competitions,
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: livestock were sold,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: goods bartered,
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: and legal judgments passed while honoring those in the community that had passed.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: You could even get hitched in marriage or the less permanent tradition
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: of hand fasting, which I'll share more on in another episode.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So as we've seen from the Irish myth,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lunasa isn't really about the god Lu,
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: but his name does give us clues as to how widespread this festival actually was.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: He seems to be very popular within the Celtic world.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: In Ireland, he's Lu, L-U-G-H, in Gaul, Lugus, L-U-G-U-S, and Lu, L-L-E-U, in Wales.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: His name's meaning has various translations including shining,
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: light, and white, possibly connecting him back to the sun.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: They are ancient towns named after him too,
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: like the Roman city of Ludunum, now known as the city of Lyon in France.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Following this naming logic,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: two archaeologist astronomers published a series of papers in 2014 pointing out
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: that Lyon's earliest street grid was actually laid out to face the sunrise
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: on August 1st,
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: which likely meant it had to do with the Celtic people who had lived there
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: for generations.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this pattern doesn't stop in Lyon,
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: as these researchers also examined another settlement that was oriented toward
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: the sunrise on February 1st, the date of the cross-quarter Celtic holiday of Imbolc.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: We can't know exactly how the Celtic inhabitants marked these dates,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: but this physical evidence echoes how sophisticated their ancient gatherings might
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: have been.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Two different towns built to align with the sun within the Celtic calendar
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: before Rome ever stepped foot there.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, by the time the Romans occupied this area,
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: it appears they co-opted the old Celtic festivals with their own gatherings.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: In 12 BC,
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: August 1st became the Council of the Gaulish Tribes to meet in Ludunum,
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: ostensibly to honor Rome and her emperor Augustus.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Similar to other conquering cultures,
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: these types of adaptations made it easier to get the locals to play along
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: with Roman traditions.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Then, with Anglo-Saxon influence,
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: the fair was likely adapted again,
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: this time by Christians into what is now known as Lamas,
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: meaning Loaf Mass, or, in the earliest translations, the Blessing of Bread.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: This makes sense,
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: as wheat is typically harvested around this time of year,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: not to mention the whole Body of Christ association.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Lamas was also celebrated on August 1st,
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: another indication of the transition from pagan to Christian holidays.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And for the next thousand years or so,
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: the tradition and folklore surrounding Lunasa continued to evolve.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, the day was still remembered as a commemoration of the harvest.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like so many Celtic traditions, Lunasa is now being revitalized.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but so is Telcha.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: In the 1920s,
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Ireland revived these games with athletic competitions connecting back to
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: the original Gaelic festival honoring the queens.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Within the last few decades,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Irish towns have brought back traditional lunaceous celebrations as part
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: of their cultural heritage, including the site where Telcha is said to be buried.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And even though there isn't a cultural connection,
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: coming together at this time of year seems to be somewhat universal.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Even here in the U.S.,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: country fairs and harvest markets all tend to begin near the end of July through
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: the month of August.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been to a county fairer,
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: You might be surprised at how similar the activities are to those celebrated by
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: the ancient Celts.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's bread, of course, though of the fried variety.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are tests of strength,
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: livestock sales,
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: and how could it not feel like matchmaking when you go on a date on
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: the Ferris wheel?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe we've always marked this time of Lunasa,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: as we understand the season is so worthy of honoring.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: We want to gather to eat and play after the peak of summer's energy.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if we look deeper,
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: we are honoring the sacrifice of real people who clear the path to gather our food,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: represented through myths like Talca.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: In a way, we're given the chance to honor their efforts.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It seems that across generations,
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: cultures,
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: and religions,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: people have gathered at this time of year,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: joining together in a time of collective peace.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more Celtic inspired stories and resources,
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: subscribe to Wild Kin Studio on Substack.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Link is in the show notes.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So glad you could join me by the fire and we'll meet again soon.