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LUGHNASA

Quiz: How much do you know about harvest time?

Do you know your Lughnasa from your propionic acid?
10.01pm, 3 Aug 2025
25.6k

WE’RE ENTERING A crucially important time for some farmers.

August is the peak month for harvesting crops and is imbued with tradition in Ireland.

Let’s see how much you know about it…

When is Lughnasa traditionally held?
Alamy
Around the summer solstice
Around the summer equinox

Around the summer-autumn cross-quarter day
At sunset
What grain is this?
Wikimedia Commons
Rye
Barley

Wheat
Apple
What is this?
Alamy
A baler
A combine harvester

A cultivator
A spreader
The harvesting of the last standing sheaf in a field was often marked with ceremony, and this object woven from it. What is it called? This one is from the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
NMI
A cailleach
A cruithneacht

A fómhar
A daba liamháis
What is meitheal?
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A type of thick soup made from a mix of the early harvested, sometimes unripened crops
The grit displayed by farmers working long hours

When neighbours come together to help with tasks like harvesting crops
When you just completely forget to harvest your crops (idiot)
If 24 August was windy and your corn was flatten, who would you blame?
Alamy
St Bartholomew
The púca

George Soros
Mice
You wake up early to harvest but find there's a heavy dew on your crops. What should you do?
Alamy
Well aren't you lucky? Time to call in help and harvest as much as you can before the dew dries
Wait until it dries
Fill in the blank of this Seamus Heaney poem: 'Late August, given [blank] rain and sun / For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.'
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No
Splishing

Light
Heavy
Castletown Geoghegan in Co Westmeath (not pictured) is considered the geographical centre of Ireland. When will the sun set there on 31 August?
Alamy
Shortly after 8.20pm
Shortly after 8pm

Shortly after 7.30pm
Shortly after 2.30pm (something is going to go horribly wrong later this month just FYI no need to stress about it too much yet haha)
You've harvested your cereal grain and the moisture content is 22%. How many litres of propionic acid per tonne should you use to dry it?
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Match it 1:1
8.5

20.5
At least 50
Answer all the questions to see your result!
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You scored out of !
You've been many a harvest before, haven't you?
Share your result:
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You scored out of !
You're a handy person to have around at this time of the year
Share your result:
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You scored out of !
Not bad, but you should have paid more attention during ag science
Share your result:
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You scored out of !
You still have a bit of learning to do to ensure you have a succesful crop
Share your result:
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You scored out of !
You are a frit fly, a pest that damages crops
Share your result:

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