Sluggy's Pages!

Volume 2, Issue 5 - Lughnasadh 1997

Welcome to Sluggy's Pages. This is Shining Lakes Grove's kids' page. It comes out eight times per year, with information and activities for the young folk and their parents. We encourage you to send us any seasonal stories, poems, art, games or puzzles for us to include in this newsletter. Editor is Mama Moon: (313) 439-0434 or send mail to: 38 Neckel Ct., Milan MI 48160.

Maze

Help the champions find the field for Lughnasadh!

Lore Corner

• Lughnasadh means the "funeral feast of Lugh". It doesn't mark the death of Lugh, but of his foster mother Tailtiu. It's named for Lugh because he began it.
• Its Christian name, Lammas, comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Loaf Mass". It was the time when the first fruits and grains were harvested and made into special holiday cakes.
• In the Irish calendar, the month of August is still called Lunasa.
• The funeral games turned into the Tailtian Fair, held on the plain named after Tailtiu. Up until this century (the 1900's), people gathered there around Lughnasadh to show off their skills in order to find jobs, compete in horse and foot races, and wrestling, and to get married.
• Lugh is both a god of lightning and storms, and of the sun. He carries a spear that never misses, and with it he shoved the burning eye of Balor into the sky to become the sun.
• The Celtic people were the first Europeans to use horse-drawn vehicles. Their warriors rode in chariots of wicker (woven reeds), and the charioteers showed off their "feats" in competition as did the champions.
• Lugh, in Irish, is known as Lugh Lamfada - Lugh of the long hand. He is also called Samildanach, which means "the master of all arts".
• In Welsh he's known as Lleu Llaw Guffes. In Gaul (Ancient France), he was called Lugus.

Ana's Playhouse

A good way to recycle your yard and kitchen wastes is by composting. This is also a good way to recycle the leaves, stems and vines left over from the harvest. Composting is the decomposition of plant remains and other once-living materials to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that is excellent for adding to houseplants or enriching garden soil. Composting is not a new idea. In the natural world, composting is what happens as leaves pile up on the forest floor and begin to decay. Eventually, the rotting leaves are returned to the soil, where living roots can finish the recycling process by reclaiming the nutrients from the decomposed leaves. It's easy to learn how to compost. If you are interested in learning more about composting with redworms, a good book to look for is Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Appelhof.

Redworms are a great way to make compost at home. Redworms need fresh food to live, and that is how they make compost! Vegetable and fruit trimmings, tea bags, and coffee grounds from your kitchen make good worm food. Meat and dairy products and foods with a lot of fat are not food worm food.

Word Search

T O S S Y S H A M M E R

L S S R A T A W O R H T

A S E E L U G H I O E N

V O M V E G G N U Y M M

I T A O R O I E R R T I

T R G R B A S E B A L L

S E L T R U H H G I H S

E B S M E C U T R F E T

F A W A R U R A S E N S

F C L A W S L G K R D A

V O L L E Y B A L L I E

S H I N E C A R T O O F

Find the words in the list and circle them in this puzzle. Then go back and copy the left-over letters into the spaces below to spell out a special Lughnasadh message.

• ARCHERY
• BASEBALL
• CABER TOSS
• EGG
• FAST
• FEAST
• FOOTRACE
• FIRST HARVEST
• FESTIVAL
• GAMES
• HAMMER
• HIGH HURTLES
• HAGGIS HURL
• HIDE 'N' HUNT
• LAWS
• LUGH
• RAIN
• RELAY
• RED
• ROVER
• SEEK
• SHINE
• TAG
• TOSS
• THROW
• TUG O'
• VOLLEYBALL
• WAR

------ ---- ---!

(Answer at the bottom)

Coming Attractions

• September 10, Silverman's, 7 PM, Youth Activities Parents' Planning Meeting.
• FALL EQUINOX, Saturday, September 20.
• September 21, Family Kite Flying, Buhr Park, Packard Rd., Ann Arbor.
• October 19, Apple and Pumpkin picking. Meet at Chili's parking lot in Ann Arbor.

Family Traditions: Fall Equinox

Soon the leaves will be turning bright oranges, reds, browns, and the air will start to cool. There are many fun things you can do this time of year. Every fall we would make a trip to the apple orchard, where we would pick apples and drink warm cider, with a cinnamon stick to swirl. We would pick enough apples to make several pies, and sometimes we would make apple cinnamon bread. There is nothing sweeter than the smell of hot apple cinnamon bread on a cool morning.

You can also make apple faces with the apples. First, very carefully, peel the apples. Then, also very carefully, carve out two eyes and a mouth. You can carve away from the face to make cheeks, and in the middle you'll have enough apples to carve into a nose. Then, let the apple dry out. This could take at least a week, maybe more.

Another fun thing to do this time of year is leaf pressing. Take two sheets of wax paper, and cut them so the edges line up. Then, find a few bright, colorful leaves. Place them between the sheets of wax paper, then place a sheet of plain white paper on top. Then run a warm iron carefully over the top, for a few minutes. The two sheets of wax paper should have melted together, holding your colorful leaves inside.

A good way to observe the time of year is to have a meal of only foods that you have harvested. There is also the tradition of offering a bowl to the goddess of the land and the god of the sky. Place the bowl on a spirit altar, or a flat stone, or in a part of your garden that seems especially alive. This is important to do at harvest time, to say thanks for all you've received.

Answer to Word Search

Summer time fun!

Web Hosting · Blog · Guestbooks · Message Forums · Mailing Lists
Allwebco Web Templates · Build your own toolbar · Free Talking Character · Audio, Fonts, Clipart
powered by bravenet.com