(To anyone who reads via RSS, I apologize for the post that went through Sunday. I was trying to work on a draft and schedule it ... and ended up clicking publish instead before the post was even finished. *headdesk* Even after I deleted it, it was still showing up on RSS :/ So, please ignore that post as the following was what I was going for.)Lá Lúnasa was a great success this year.
Saturday, I finished the cleaning I had started on Friday night, and baked some blueberry cream cheese pound cake (from a dear friend's recipe which you can find here), with the blueberries harvested at my grandfather's house. The blackberries were already gone, eaten by the family with some cream when Lúnasa arrived in our locale, so I had none for this celebration.
Later on that evening, just after I finished cooking dinner, a storm began brewing. I ventured outside and enjoyed the relief the winds gave from the scorching heat. I listened as Lugh spoke through the thunder and lightning. The eventual rains, and the reprieve from the heat, were most welcomed.
Sunday morning, I woke up around 10am and gathered everything for ritual outside in the garden. I gave offerings of the aforementioned blueberry pound cake, ale and a basket of harvested food from the garden (tomatoes, rosemary, lemon balm and juniper--decorated with lavender crape myrtle petals) and read aloud a snippet from Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Magh Turedh) regarding Lugh.
I didn't stay out quite as long as I wanted to, because the heat was already just so intense ... and it was only 10am. My mind refuses to fathom that the hottest days (laethe madrúla 'dogs days') are still to come. For now, I am looking forward to Cónocht an Fhomhair (the Autumn Equinox) and I'm already sensing those feelings of Nechtan that I have been getting for the past two years. I really need to explore that and what it means. The closer September gets, the stronger I feel Him. But I digress...
As Sunday was also my niece's birthday party—Alice in Wonderland themed, no less—that served as a sort of "fair" and I thought was quite appropriate for the day: kids playing games, gathering of friends, lots of craic and such. All taken place between the sheltering arms of our beloved crape myrtle.
I'll still be doing several festivities to come, such as meditations on the season and some hillwalking, but this incredible heat waves needs to pass over first before I spend too much time out of doors, sadly.
How did everyone else's celebrations go?
Later on that evening, just after I finished cooking dinner, a storm began brewing. I ventured outside and enjoyed the relief the winds gave from the scorching heat. I listened as Lugh spoke through the thunder and lightning. The eventual rains, and the reprieve from the heat, were most welcomed.
Sunday morning, I woke up around 10am and gathered everything for ritual outside in the garden. I gave offerings of the aforementioned blueberry pound cake, ale and a basket of harvested food from the garden (tomatoes, rosemary, lemon balm and juniper--decorated with lavender crape myrtle petals) and read aloud a snippet from Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Magh Turedh) regarding Lugh.I didn't stay out quite as long as I wanted to, because the heat was already just so intense ... and it was only 10am. My mind refuses to fathom that the hottest days (laethe madrúla 'dogs days') are still to come. For now, I am looking forward to Cónocht an Fhomhair (the Autumn Equinox) and I'm already sensing those feelings of Nechtan that I have been getting for the past two years. I really need to explore that and what it means. The closer September gets, the stronger I feel Him. But I digress...
As Sunday was also my niece's birthday party—Alice in Wonderland themed, no less—that served as a sort of "fair" and I thought was quite appropriate for the day: kids playing games, gathering of friends, lots of craic and such. All taken place between the sheltering arms of our beloved crape myrtle.
I'll still be doing several festivities to come, such as meditations on the season and some hillwalking, but this incredible heat waves needs to pass over first before I spend too much time out of doors, sadly.
How did everyone else's celebrations go?
I'm going to post my ritual on my site sometime today but I had a nice quiet one at home this time, along with some meditation. It sounds like you had a nice quiet time yourself :)
ReplyDeleteSounds amazing, all that thunder and lightning! I might have to try the pound cake, it sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't celebrated yet. We're having quite the opposite kind of weather here so everything's slow to ripen.