Lúnasa final programme in RTÉ four-part series Na Féilte Tine (The Fire Festivals) airs Monday 5th August at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player

Na Féilte Tine (The Fire Festivals) concludes this August Bank Holiday Monday with the fourth and final episode of the acclaimed RTÉ series exploring Ireland’s ancient seasonal festivals: Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and now, Lúnasa.

Each episode marks a turning in the Celtic year, and this final programme welcomes the festival of Lúnasa – the celebration of the harvest and the beginning of the final arc in the Gaelic calendar. With its focus on ritual, abundance and realignment with nature and self, Lúnasa leads us into the closing quarter of the year, which culminates with Samhain in late October – the beginning of the Celtic New Year.

“This series is more than a look back at ancient custom,” says series producer Ciarán Ó Cofaigh. “It’s a deep dive into Irish tradition, reconnecting us with the rhythm of the natural world and the deep cyclical time that shaped our ancestors’ lives.”

Lúnasa is the welcome to the harvest and a celebration of the ancient sun god, Lú. It is said that Lú defeated the dark god Balor and thus saved the harvest from destruction. 

This final episode traces the spirit of Lúnasa from myth to modern festival. The great gatherings and fairs of Lúnasa can be said to have manifested in the summer musical festivals of the modern day, with the Night & Day festival in Roscommon featured as an example of the modern equivalent.  The episode includes a visit to Eamhain Mhacha, the sacred hill of Ulster and ancient ceremonial center of the North. It introduces the Armagh Rhymers and attends the vibrant contemporary Lúnasa Festival, where old customs find renewed meaning through performance, gathering, and ritual.

We journey to Carrick on Shannon to attend Edwina Guckian’s Irish Culture Retreat, as Edwina guides us through the traditions of Lúnasa still celebrated in Leitrim today. The episode also explores the enduring tradition of the Puck Fair – Ireland’s oldest market festival – as expressions of the Lúnasa spirit still thriving today. Many of the Lúnasa celebrations are connected to harvest and agricultural festivals like Puck Fair, where everyone gathered to celebrate the harvest and present their livestock and produce.

Contributors include:
Bríd Ní Mhóráin, Bernardo Kastrup, Dara Ó Maoildhia, An tUrramach Myōzan Ian Kilroy, Michael Cronin, Seosaí Nic Rabhartaigh, Lillis Ó Laoire, Áine Ní Bhreisleáin, Manchán Magan, Vincent Woods, An Dr Karen Ward, An Dr Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, Edwina Guckian, Réamonn Ó Ciaráin, Michael Harding, and Máirín Mhic Lochlainn.

This concluding episode completes the full circle of Na Féilte Tine, a series rooted in the ancient “cross-quarter days” that divide the seasons. From Samhain’s dark beginning to the promise of spring at Imbolg, the fire of summer at Bealtaine, and now the fruitful turning of Lúnasa – this journey through the Irish year reaches its final, celebratory phase.

Catch up on the full series on RTÉ Player:
Episode 1 Samhain: 

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/na-féilte-tine/10001581-00-0000?epguid=IP10001582-01-0001

Episode 2 Imbolg: 

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/na-féilte-tine/10001581-00-0000?epguid=IP10001582-01-0002

Episode 3 Bealtaine: 

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/na-féilte-tine/10001581-00-0000?epguid=IP10001582-01-0003

Na Féilte Tine is a ROSG production, commissioned by RTÉ and Coimisiún na Meán, with support from the Government of Ireland through Section 481.