SLG Lughnasadh 2000 Order of Service

Welcome to

Shining Lakes Grove, ADF

Lughnasadh 2000 Order of Service

[sun]
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 (7:30 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 (We Are a Circle Moving)
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
Meditation, grounding and centering
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 1:30 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 2:30 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)
Blessing of the competitors

Main sacrifice: Championship Games (3:00 PM)

Omen of Return: Runes drawn by each event winner will be used for our divination
Return blessings:
Feast Blessing (in the Pavilion, 6:30 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 2000

We are a circle moving
One with another, we are
Moving together, we are one
(repeat)

I am spirit and I flow in you.
You are spirit and you flow in me.
(repeat)

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.

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

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

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.