Lúnasa: Harvest knots and barefoot climbs

journeys to holy places, a sos of sorts after which a return to daily life

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As I write this, I’m packing up my things to return to New York. I’ve had a really great break where I had a chance to revisit some places and things that are very dear to me. Before I moved to the U.S. I lived in Westport, Co. Mayo and one of the last things I did before I emigrated was to climb Croagh Patrick. It wasn’t the first time I’d done it but it seemed a fitting thing to do on leaving a place I really loved.  Weather permitting (it’s tough doing it in the rain!), it's something I love to do when I’m back. Making the climb on or around the first of August is particularly significant.

There are four major ancient festivals in Ireland - Imbolc (Spring), Bealthaine (Summer), Lughnasa/ Lunasa (Autumn) and Samhain (WInter). I wrote about Imbolc in my very first letter where I kicked off with the making of St. Brigid's Crosses and cross stitch. That was exactly six months, or two seasons, ago. Lúnasa is typically celebrated on the closest weekend or for the week around August 1. The last Sunday in July also coincides with “Reek Sunday” - The Reek is the colloquial name for Croagh Patrick and is derived from rick or stack. Reek Sunday is an annual pilgrimage day where thousands of people climb the mountain. There are different rituals associated with the climb, but the optional climbing barefoot gets the most attention. For the record, I have never done it barefoot, it is super rocky, but I won’t rule it out for future climbs ;) 

I have to say one thing I really love about Irish culture is that when change happens, it isn’t a case of “out with the old and in with the new”. Regardless of whatever newness arrives on the shores there is always something of the “old” that is retained. Even if the symbolism runs contrary to the new message. A perfect example to show this is the Rinnegan Cross c.750.

It is one of the earliest surviving representations of the crucifixion in Ireland. Christianity had come to Ireland but the Irish then saw no need of dispensing with all that went before. The triskelion (triple spiral) is a sacred symbol and was widely used in pre-Christian and pre-Celtic times. The most notable example being at Newgrange in Co. Meath, in the interior chamber, see below, and on the entrance stone. But you can see that it was still used in the Rinnegan Cross approximately 4000 years later.

So, in jumping back to Lunasa, celebrating the harvest and the beginning of Autumn. It is marked by feasts and fairs, ideally on the top of the highest point locally. From there all of the land could be seen, and the harvest bounty fully appreciated. Croagh Patrick (originally known as Cruachan Aigli - Cruaghan means stack or peak and Aigli was an old name for the area, it also translates as eagle)³. It has been a sacred site long before the arrival of Christianity but the name changed after St. Patrick spent forty days and forty nights praying and fasting (the period of lent… comments will be open if anyone has any questions about these references or their own stories to share) as he sought to convert the Irish to Christianity. It is from here that he famously drove out the snakes from Ireland. 

The Reek has been a ceremonial landscape since the Neolithic Age (same time period as Newgrange) with consistent use from the Bronze age onwards (that's a much more recent 2500-500 BC!). Similarly to Persephone, goddess of vegetation in Greek mythology, in Irish folklore it was also the death of a woman - Tailtiu - from exhaustion after clearing the land for agriculture that prompted the harvest festival. At this time of the year Celtic and Christian traditions overlap, while many traditions would have been lost over time, some remained and to this day room is made for both to survive. 

I know all of this might see like a deviation from sewing but what really interests me about all of this is the additional practice of craft and making that was associated with all of the ancient festivals. Lunasa was no different. Using the materials at hand - straw from the harvest - objects were created.

A caileach is a very special object that is woven from the last standing sheaf in a field. It was to be hung in the home of the farmer and the family. The making of this talisman was followed by a “harvest home”, a feast for everyone involved in the harvest in the house of the farmer and where the Caileach would be prominently displayed, usually over a door or above the table.

An additional act of thanks and gratitude was the making and sharing of harvest knots. These were exchanged between men and women…. If you didn’t fancy a particular suitor, the harvest knot was returned…The original swiping right or left ;)

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The knots are made from straw that is twisted rather than plaited, four pieces, folded over each other and repeated, then formed into the knot shape. Those made for women included some of the grain, those for the men did not.

As you plaited the harvest bow

You implicated the mellow silence in you

In wheat that does not rust

But brightens as it twists by twist⁶

Next week I’ll be back with more of a sewing focused letter… I just couldn’t resist sharing a little bit of these customs and their handmade artifacts. I hope you enjoyed it, let me know in the comments if you want to hear similar stories or if you have any questions. While these aren’t sewn they speak to all of the same social practices that come out of sewing. The exhibiting, the sharing, the gifting, and of course celebration and joy.

See you next week! (and in two weeks -Aug 19th) we’ll have our next Sewcial Experiment.

Catherine x-x-x-x-x-x

1. Sos (Irish): moment of respite

2. Croagh Patrick, August 1, 2024, by author

3. Placenames database of Ireland

4. Harvest Knots (for Females), Museum of Country Life, Castlebar, Co. Mayo

5. Harvest Knots (for Males), Museum of Country Life, Castlebar, Co. Mayo

6. Seamus Heaney, ‘The Harvest Bow’