*Ø* Blogmanac | The Games of Lugh
Named for the god Lugh, who is associated with this season of Lammas, this is an old name for the Perseids, the most familiar of all meteor showers, that take place at around this time of year. Associated with the Swift-Tuttle Comet, the Perseids have been well documented since at least 830 CE and take their name from the constellation Perseus where shooting stars appear. We can well imagine ancient Celts looking upon these wonders and associating them with other phenomena of the season between the equinox and solstice, including the heat of the last of the Dog Days.
As is well known, most ancient cultures looked on meteor showers and other phenomena in the sky as having supernatural meaning. In pre-Zoroastrian Inida, the Perseids were the Pairikas, the prototypes of the Peris, the nymphs or female angels of later Persian tradition, and likewise the Parigs or Witches of Manichaeism. The Pairikas, in the form of worm-stars, are said to fly between the earth and the heavens at this time. These ‘shooting stars’ fall annually at about the time when Tistrya (Sirius) is supposed to be most active.
The remarkable annual appearance of the Perseids might explain why the ancient Egyptian Lychnapsia (‘Festival of Lights’, or ‘The Lights of Isis’) at this time of year was revered in the Osirian mysteries.
More at the Wilson's Almanac Lammas/Lughnasadh page
Named for the god Lugh, who is associated with this season of Lammas, this is an old name for the Perseids, the most familiar of all meteor showers, that take place at around this time of year. Associated with the Swift-Tuttle Comet, the Perseids have been well documented since at least 830 CE and take their name from the constellation Perseus where shooting stars appear. We can well imagine ancient Celts looking upon these wonders and associating them with other phenomena of the season between the equinox and solstice, including the heat of the last of the Dog Days.
As is well known, most ancient cultures looked on meteor showers and other phenomena in the sky as having supernatural meaning. In pre-Zoroastrian Inida, the Perseids were the Pairikas, the prototypes of the Peris, the nymphs or female angels of later Persian tradition, and likewise the Parigs or Witches of Manichaeism. The Pairikas, in the form of worm-stars, are said to fly between the earth and the heavens at this time. These ‘shooting stars’ fall annually at about the time when Tistrya (Sirius) is supposed to be most active.
The remarkable annual appearance of the Perseids might explain why the ancient Egyptian Lychnapsia (‘Festival of Lights’, or ‘The Lights of Isis’) at this time of year was revered in the Osirian mysteries.
More at the Wilson's Almanac Lammas/Lughnasadh page
Pip Wilson posted item above at 6:25 PM | Permalink
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