August 15, Assumption, Lugnasadh and Harvest Festival

If there is one holiday that is not well known, it is August 15. If you ask 10 people in the street, chances are that less than half of them will be able to give you an accurate answer. In fact, on this day, Catholics celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary who was taken to heaven alive at the end of her earthly life. On this occasion, believers organize large processions in honor of the mother of Christ.

The assembly of Lug

However, this festival, instituted by Louis XIII to thank Mary for having given him an heir, in this case the future Sun King Louis XIV, was not placed at this date by chance. Indeed, among the Celts, there was already at this period the festival of Lugnasadh or assembly of Lug, the god of light polytechnic, that is to say that he had the powers of all the other gods. This god possessed a terrible weapon, a spear that nothing could stop and that had to be left to rest in the water of a cauldron when not in use. What a beautiful symbol of the union of male and female polarities! In addition, the spear of Lug recalls the ear of wheat which is abundant at this period. It was indeed a harvest festival, at the beginning of the Celtic autumn, where one thanked Tailtiu, goddess of the earth who, according to the myth, was the adoptive mother of Lug and who had sacrificed herself, dying of exhaustion while clearing the land to make it cultivable. Lug himself would have instituted the festival of Lugnasadh to honor his mother and thank her.

Astrological correspondences

From an astrological point of view, we can find all this. Lug illustrates well the sign of Leo, solar, brilliant and reigning over the other deities, he is at the peak of his power while the earth, his mother from where he emerged as Sun-god on December 21, produces in abundance fruits and harvests before autumn comes and his winter death. At this moment the Sun enters the sign of Virgo, feminine and whose main characteristics are work, service and devotion to others. Among the Greeks she was called Demeter and in some Christian icons she is represented with an ear of wheat, an obvious parallel with the zodiacal Virgo. Once again we see that the great myths of humanity are often allegories of very real astronomical or astrological events.