Another IES field trip opportunity - we got to see the origins of Halloween and some very important Pagan sites in Ireland. Halloween was a pagan Holiday that originated in Ireland - this being my favorite holiday, this trip was a blast.
Our first stop was the Hill of Tara.
The Hill of Tara is a place of royalty also known as the "Seat of the High Kings" - 142 kings are said to have held the throne here. The Rings (Raths) show us where circular forts would have been. It is thought that this was a place for ceremonies and feasts rather than a place of permanent living due to the lack of evidence for any large scale settlements.
From left to right we have (1) a statue of St. Patrick, (2) The Mound of the Hostages, and (3) The Stone of Destiny.
(1) The statue of St. Patrick greets you when you enter the site of the Hill of Tara. St. Patrick is said to have first come to this site to confront the ancient religion.
(2) The Mound of the Hostages actually has nothing to do with hostages of any kind. It was a burial tomb for the Celts where the ashes of nearly 260 people were laid. On Sahmain the light of the sun aligns perfectly with the entrance of the tomb and lights the inside.
(3) The Stone of Destiny is located in the center of the larger rath. According to legend, the high kings of Ireland were all crowned at this stone. If the true king touches it, it is said to roar.
We went down the hill a little ways and got the chance to make a small offering of wool to the faerie tree. When faeries and humans shared the world, Faeries started taking food and goods freely and this caused a great war. The faeries relied too heavily on the idea of magic and were defeated. The agreement to end the war was that the faeries would receive half of Ireland (The underworld) and the Humans would get to keep the other half. People leave gifts to appease the faeries when it gets close to Sahmain because that is the night when the vale between our world and the next is the thinnest. One of the ways faeries liked to wreak havoc on the human world was stealing human babies. They liked to take young boys however, so the tradition of female middle names for boys was in an effort to confuse them.
The next stop on our tour was Loughcrew or Sliabh na Cailli in Gaelic (meaning "The way of the witch"). This is the highest point in County Meath, and it was quite the hike. There are many neolithic tombs on the hilltop, most of which align with a specific celestial event during the year. The Hag's Chair is the flat stone with an orange peel resting on top of it as an offering. It is said if you sit in it, close your eyes, and make a wish and never tell your wish, it will come true in a year and a day.
When we walked back down to the bottom of the hill, we got to go inside and enjoy a traditional Halloween Feast.
We started with a delicious and hearty bean and vegetable soup. None of us were able to finish our portions because we wanted to save room for the feast to come.
Then we had a buffet style layout for the rest of the food. Sahmain is a very plant based feast so I was able to eat everything (aside from the pulled pork that was added to the feast for the meat eaters but wouldn't normally be included).
The traditional ring fruit bread is also known as the Barnbrack cake. Each member of the family would get a slice and there is a piece of a rag in one slice, a coin in one, and a ring in another. If you get the rag, then your financial future is in trouble. If you get the coin, then there is a good outlook on your finances for the year. And if you get the ring, there is a good romantic outlook for you.
Colcannon is the traditional Sahmain main dish of boiled cabbage and potatoes. It sounds really bland but it was absolutely delicious.
The soul cake is the last essential part of the feast - it started when Christianity was beginning to take over most of the Pagan traditions. The poor would go to houses and receive soul cakes in exchange for promises to pray for the souls of the dead relatives of the homeowners - a tradition that led to our modern day trick-or-treating.
Our final stop on the tour was Tlachtga - The physical site of the birthplace of Halloween.
The site is named after the goddess Tlachtga who died on the hill giving birth to her three
sons. It is said that as long as her sons are remembered, no one can claim the land they were born on so after we left offerings of fruit at the altar, we chanted their names to show they had not been forgotten (Doirb, Cumma and Muach).
The rites of Sahmain are held in Tlachtga's honor.
This is also the place where druids would light a bonfire from which all the other fires would be lit for the next year at places such as The Hill of Tara.
We were privileged to get to hear some beautiful Gaelic songs while we performed the ceremony.
Afterwards we spread oats around the hill as an offering to the faeries.