Lughnasadh Playing Cards
The Wheel of the Year continues to turn. The Lughnasadh deck represents the festival of the same name, celebrating the founding of the country of Ireland.
The ancient peoples of Europe lived not by a calendar of months and days, but by observing and listening to the signals from nature. These civilizations lived and died by the harvests and the changing of the seasons. This deck, as is the entire series, is a tribute and honor to those rituals.
Released alongside the Beltane deck, together they represent both the growth and harvest, an intertwining tale of life.
Taking its name from the god Lugh, it is actually more a celebration of his mother Taitliu, who single-handedly cleared the plains of Ireland with a handaxe, paving the way for the fruitful agriculture on which the Celts relied, and dying of exhaustion for her efforts.
The Lughnasadh deck comes in a luxury tuck made of a vibrant yellow matte paper, finished with green metallic foil accents and an interior foiling. Both the front and back of the tuck have embossed accents too, though the back's is more from the heavy metallic foiling and makes it look and feel extra rich.
You can even see in the design how it's more a dedication for Taitliu too.
The back design of the cards is the same design as the back of the tuck with slightly different color schemes. The background is still yellow, but the accents and main straw characters are all colored in ways you would expect. It's really nice and flows quite well.
The faces are fully custom from the courts to the pips. Artwork and sketches are strewn about all of the number cards, but the courts themselves are elegant portraits.
This deck is one of a series that form The Wheel of the Year. This is the relatively modern amalgamation of the seasonal festivals of the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse peoples, and features eight different festivals that take place roughly twice every season -- most importantly, during solstices and the mid-points between them. Jocu is commemorating these festivals with this deck series.
The deck consists of 56 cards:
- 52 playing cards
- Two non-identical jokers
- Two ad cards
This deck was originally available via a Kickstarter campaign that was fully-funded in 2021.
Where to buy?
Last I checked, you should be able to pick up Lughnasadh Playing Cards at Jocu Playing Cards. The last price tag I saw for this deck was set at $17.60.