Lughnasadh 2002 Order of Service

Welcome to our celebration!

The entire four-day festival will be held in ritual space, so we will open the rite on Thursday evening, perform the main portion of the rite on Saturday, and close on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday - Opening Rite (7 PM)

Preparing ourselves for our time with the Gods and Spirits

• Blowing of the Horn to call us to begin the rite
• Processional and purification (Come We Now As a People)
• Bardic invocation for our eloquence and inspiration
• Welcoming the Allies, the spirits of the People and their Gods who lived in this land before us
• Honoring our Mother Ana
• Unity chant (We Are One With the Mother)
• Statement of purpose: We honor Lugh, the father of our tribe, with this festival. Today we open the ways and invite all the gods and spirits to join our celebration. All we do from now until we close on Sunday, we offer as praise to the gods.

Declaring Center and opening the Portals

• Tree, Well, and Fire
• Acknowledging the Outsiders - the forces of chaos and change
• Invocation of Manannan mac Lir, our Lord of the Dead, to guide and protect us in the Otherworld

Acknowledging and honoring our guests

• Ancestors - our beloved dead
• Nature Spirits - the spirits of the land and its creatures
• Deities: Bríd, Aren, Danu, and Bel (feel free to offer a silent welcome to your own Gods)
• The Archetypes - acknowledging the three societal functions within us

Closing

• We end our opening ceremony and begin our celebration.

Saturday - The Main Rite

Pilgrimage (meet at Registration at 2 PM)

We make a ritual journey from the lake to the hill. This is about a twenty-minute walk. Those who choose not to go on the walk, please meet the pilgrimage at the ritual area as they return.

• Pilgrimage chant: Hey Summer, Ho Summer

Assemble at Main Ceremony Circle at 3 PM

Giving and Receiving

• Deity of the Occasion: We welcome and honor Lugh, father of our tribe, for whom we hold this festival. (Lughnasadh Dance)
• Passing the wheat - Direct your praise and energy to the wheat to build a group offering. While you hold it, you may give praise or thanks to the gods silently or in the form of a vocal or physical offering. When you finish, pass the wheel to the person next to you.
• Blessing of the competitors

Main sacrifice: Championship Games (3:30 PM)

• Omen of Return: Reading the runes
• Return blessings:
• Feast Blessing (in the Winters Dorm, 7 PM) We partake of the blessed loaf. (We ask that our guests please not begin feasting until after this bread has been eaten.)
• Feast - During the feast, we will announce the new Champion, and the Genealogy of Heroes will be recited.

Sunday Closing Rite (1:00 PM)

Giving and Receiving continued

• Welcoming new members, officers, and guild members, and bestowing other honors
• Cauldron Blessing

Unwinding and closing

• Recessional (Now the Rite Is At an End)

Songs for Lughnasadh 2002

Processional:
Come We Now As a People
© Ian Corrigan

Come we now as a people,
To gather together at Sacred Well,
Come we now as a people,
To gather in the warmth and the light of the Flame.

Unity Chant:
We Are One With the Mother
(trad. ADF)

We are one with the Mother,
We are one with the earth,
We are one with each other,
By our lives, by our birth.

Pilgrimage Chant:
Hey Summer, Ho Summer
©1997 Marae Price

Chorus:
Hey summer, ho summer, harvest has come. (2x)

Blessings of the gods be on our company,
And we wish to share them wherever we go.
Blessings of the gods be on hill, stream, and tree;
Blessings on the land of Ana.
Chorus

Blessings of the gods be on forest and field,
Blessings of the gods be on the path 'neath our feet.
Blessings of the gods be our comfort and shield;
Blessings on the folk of Ana.
Chorus

Deity of the Occasion:
Lughnasadh Dance
©1999 by the SLG Liturgists

Chorus:
At your festival sound the horn, calling the people again
Child of Barleycorn, newly summer-born
Ripening like the grain, oh, ripening like the grain

Recessional:
Now the Rite Is At An End
©1996 Paul Kershaw and Marae Price

And now the rite is at an end, again we're parting ways
May truth and honor be your friend and lucky be your days
I'll hold you dearly in my heart, I'll hold you in my mind
And though our branches grow apart, our roots shall be entwined.

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