The greater Sabbat of Lughnassadh is the first of the three Harvest Festivals, along with Mabon and Samhain. This is the time of the grain harvest, when the first fruits of the year's plantings are ripe and ready to be gathered. Yet the fields are still fertile with the harvests to come; so in this time we see the Goddess as still pregnant, and this becomes a time for practicing fertility and harvest rites together.

In Irish mythology, the first Lughnassadh was begun by Lugh to honor his recently deceased foster mother, Tailitu, who died clearing the fields for agriculture. This funeral feast featured games, handfastings, and religious celebrations. For Wiccans, this is also the time when the Corn god has been castrated by the Goddess, so that his seed may sow fertility into the lands for the next period of harvests. Many corn oriented rituals abound for Lughnassadh, as a result. This was also a traditional time for the ritual death of kings, to ensure the prosperity of their peoples. While grains and fruits are the traditional sacrifices during this time, many cultures also enacted a ritual sacrifice of their king or leaders, usually through sympathetic magic (corn dolls are very common for this use) or animal sacrifice. Today, we can partake of this same sacrifice by baking bread in the shape of a man, and ritually sacrificing the bread to consume.

Handfastings are a common feature of Lughnassadh, including traditional Irish handfastings, which lasted one year and one day (with the option to marry at the end). This is also a time of contracts, gatherings, bonfires, blessing the fields, and honoring Deity in Its aspect of Corn God, Mother Goddess, and (of course) Storm God (to prevent harsh autumn storms from damaging the ripening crops).