Editing Lughnasadh (section)

==Mythology and folklore==
[[File:Testa in pietra con più facce, da corleck hill, co. di cavan, I-II secolo dc. 03.jpg|thumb|The [[Corleck Head]] is a carved stone head with three faces associated with a site of Lughnasadh celebrations in Ireland. It dates from the 1st or 2nd century AD.<ref> [[Eamonn P. Kelly | Kelly, Eamonn]]. "The Iron Age". In Ó Floinn, Raghnal; Wallace, Patrick (eds). Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities. National Museum of Ireland, 2002. p. 142. {{isbn|978-0-7171-2829-7}}</ref>]]
In [[Irish mythology]], Lughnasadh is said to have been founded by the god [[Lugh]] as a funeral feast and athletic competition—[[funeral games]]—to commemorate the death of an earth goddess.<ref name="Hicks Elder">{{cite journal |last1=Hicks |first1=Ronald |last2=Elder |first2=Laura |title=Festivals, Deaths, and the Sacred Landscape of Ancient Ireland |journal=[[Journal of Indo-European Studies]] |date=September 2003 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=307–336}}</ref> Irish myths about Lughnasadh and Lughnasadh sites tend to feature a woman who is carried off or held against her will, and who dies of grief, shame, exhaustion, or unspecified natural causes.<ref name="Hicks Elder"/> Parallels with the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] tale of [[Persephone]] have been noted.<ref name="Hicks Elder"/> A story about the Lughnasadh site of [[Teltown|Tailtin]] says the festival was founded by Lugh as funeral games in memory of his foster-mother [[Tailtiu]].<ref name="monaghan297">Monaghan, pp.297–299</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=The story of La Lughnasa, first day of Ireland's ancient harvest festival |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-story-of-la-lughnasa-first-day-of-ireland-s-ancient-harvest-festival-1.3582934 |access-date=2023-07-10 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> She was said to have died of exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture.<ref name="monaghan297" /> Tailtiu may have been an earth goddess who represented the dying vegetation that fed mankind.<ref name="monaghan436">Monaghan, pp.436–437</ref> Another tale, about the assembly site of [[Naas]], says that Lugh founded the festival in memory of his two wives, the sisters Nás and Bói.<ref name="Hicks Elder"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Coffey |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xctAAAAYAAJ&q=lugh+commemoration+nas |title=New Grange (Brugh Na Boinne) and Other Incised Tumuli in Ireland: The Influence of Crete and the Ægean in the Extreme West of Europe in Early Times |date=1912 |publisher=Hodges, Figgis, & Company, Limited |pages=26 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Leviton |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQiNBAAAQBAJ&dq=LUGH'S+FIRST+WIVES&pg=PA275 |title=The Geomantic Year: A Calendar of Earth-Focused Festivals That Align the Planet with the Galaxy |date=2006-11-16 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-86056-2 |pages=275 |language=en}}</ref> One theory is that it was a mourning (or wake) for the end of summer.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Franklin |first1=Anna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oH77QJewHQIC&dq=lughnasa+mourning&pg=PA79 |title=Lammas: Celebrating Fruits of the First Harvest |last2=Mason |first2=Paul |date=2001 |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |isbn=978-0-7387-0094-6 |pages=79 |language=en}}</ref> 

Folklorist Máire MacNeill extensively studied the later folklore and traditions of Lughnasadh. She concludes that the main theme is a struggle for the harvest between two gods. One god, usually called [[Crom Dubh]] in later folklore, guards the grain as his treasure. The other god, Lugh, must seize it for mankind.<ref name="macneill416">MacNeill, Máire. ''The Festival of Lughnasa''. p.416</ref><ref>Mac Gabhann, Seamus. [http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/770/1/Landsmarks.pdf "Landmarks of the people: Meath and Cavan places prominent in Lughnasa mythology and folklore"]. ''Ríocht na Midhe'', 11. Meath Archaeological & Historical Society, 2000. pp.236–237</ref> Sometimes, this was portrayed as a struggle over a woman called [[Eithne]], who represents the grain. Lugh also fights and defeats a figure representing blight.<ref name="macneill416" /> MacNeill says that these themes can be seen in earlier Irish mythology, particularly in the tale of Lugh defeating [[Balor]],<ref name="macneill416" /> which seems to represent the overcoming of blight, drought and the scorching summer sun.<ref>Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Fionn Mac Cumhaill: Images of the Gaelic Hero''. Gill & MacMillan, 1988. p.11</ref> In surviving folklore, Lugh is usually replaced by [[Saint Patrick]], while Crom Dubh is a pagan chief who owns a granary or a bull and who opposes Patrick, but is overcome and [[Conversion to Christianity|converted]]. Crom Dubh is likely the same figure as [[Crom Cruach]] and shares some traits with [[the Dagda]] and [[Donn]].<ref name="macneill416" /> He may be based on an underworld god like [[Hades]] and [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], who kidnaps the grain goddess Persephone but is forced to let her return to the world above before harvest time.<ref>Anna Franklin & Paul Mason. ''Lammas: Celebrating Fruits of the First Harvest''. Llewellyn Worldwide, 2001. p.238</ref>