The Roots of Halloween: Samhain
What are the true Celtic roots of Halloween? Halloween, or Oíche Samhna in Irish, perplexes me. Read any wikipedia or general-interest article about the holiday and you find tradition heaped on...
View ArticleA Brief History of the Hill of Tara: Seat of Secular and Spiritual Power.
A few miles south of Navan, Co. Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland. Unlike our modern conception of a capital city, however, Tara appears to have been a symbolic or ritual...
View ArticleTara: The Mound of the Hostages
The oldest — and perhaps most important — monument on the Hill of Tara is the misleadingly named “Mound of the Hostages,” a neolithic passage tomb of a much smaller scale than Newgrange (which is...
View ArticleTara: The Hidden Past
Most of the earthworks on the Hill of Tara are thought to have been dwelling or feasting places. A long depression runs up the hill from the road towards the Mound of the Hostages. The two sides are...
View ArticleWhat Should You Hang on a Rag Tree?
By summer, most fairy trees in Ireland are sagging under the weight of misguided offerings. Many are dying from the accumulated damage. Yesterday, my kids and I joined in an effort to save the rag...
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