Celebrating Lùnastal

Setting the table for the first of the harvest festivals 🌾

1st August marks Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic, pronounced “loo-nas-til”) or Lughnasadh (in Irish Gaelic): the halfway point between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, and the beginning of the harvest seasons in the Celtic wheel of the year. The festival corresponds with other European celebrations such as the English harvest festival Lammas.

To me, this is the start of a seasonal shift: there’s just a whisper of Autumn (have you felt it this week?), the landscape golden and the nights losing that endless quality of Midsummer.

Lùnastal celebrates abundance as the harvest gluts reach their peak. Crops ripen on farms and the first blackberries appear. The taste of late Summer and the anticipation of early Autumn.

To celebrate, I love to set the table for a harvest supper and cook something seasonal. My whole life is packed up in boxes just now as we’re in the midst of renovations (more on that soon) but I will be sure to rustle up a little something simple and mark this pivotal moment.

I thought I’d share some pictures of last year’s seasonal table: I took my cues from the countryside with dried wheat and chose a colour palette to evoke the cosy feel of a late Summer sunsets in shades of pink and gold. I hope it inspires you to set the table as well and celebrate the magic of this in-between time.

Here’s what I used to create my tablescape: the Table Edit tablecloth; H&M Home napkins and clip frame (illustration by me); Pops and Piaf candlestick holders and teapot; pink Fairholme candles; natural colour beeswax candles made by me; beeswax tea lights from Travelling Basket; pink plate previous PR product from Denby; scalloped bowls from KC Hossack Pottery; tiny dish (with candle in) from Michelle Lowe Pottery; The Natural Dyeworks ribbons; glasses from BAM Glasgow; the White Company and Laura Ashley bud vases; bird decoration from Norden; cutlery, gold detail plates, books, Kilner jar and step ladder all vintage.

Had you heard of Lùnastal or Lammas? If so, how do you celebrate?