वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 397
an instance of imaginative aptitude."* This shows that the
ancient Celtic year closed with the season of autumn and the
beginning of winter which corresponded with the last day of
October, or the eve of November, and was marked by festivals
which indicated the victory of darkness over light. As re-
gards the middle of the year or summer in the Celtic traditions,
the same authority further informs us that "The Lammas
fairs and meetings forming the Lugnassad in ancient Ireland
marked the victorious close of the sun's contest with the powers
of darkness and death, when the warmth and light of that lumi-
nary's rays, after routing the colds and blights, were fast bring-
ing the crops to maturity. This, more mythologically express-
ed, was represented as the final crushing of Fomori and Fir
Bolg, the death of their king and the nullifying of their
malignant spells, and as the triumphant return of Lug with
peace and plenty to marry the maiden Erinn and to enjoy a
well-earned banquet, at which the fairy host of dead ancestors
was probably not forgotten. Marriages were solemnized on
the auspicious occasion ; and no prince, who failed to be pre-
sent on the last day of the fair, durst look forward to prosperi-
ty during the coming year. The Lugnassad was the great
event of the summer half of the year, which extended from
the calends of May to the calends of Winter. The Celtic year
was more thermometric than astronomical, and the Lugnassad
was so to say its summer solstice, whereas the longest day
was, so far as I have been able to discover, of no special ac-
count."† The great feast of the Lugnassad thus marked the
middle of the year or summer, and it was held at the begin-
ning of August. Therefore, "the First of May must, according
to Celtic ideas, have been the right season for the birth of
the summer sun-god";‡ and this is confirmed by the story of
Gwin and Gwythur, who fought for the same damsel, and
*Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 516-17. †Ibid. pp. 418-19.
‡Ibid. p. 546.