The High Kings of Ireland

UCD had another cultural programming event on Friday to the Hill of Tara and Causey Farm. I had to be there at 8:30, so it was an early one, but it was not too difficult getting there since it was a Friday and there was a lot of buses running at rush hour and they were coming frequently enough. When I got to UCD I found my friend Julie, who also lives off campus, and we tried to find where we were supposed to catch the bus. We had been told that our chaperons would be there at 8:15, but they were not, and for a bit Julie and I were pretty sure that we were in the wrong place. Eventually our guides showed up, along with the rest of our group, and we were off to the Hill of Tara in County Meath.

      The area where the Hill of Tara is located is of immense importance in Irish history. It has been used since the Neolithic era, and has been used as a religious and political centre. It was here that that high kings of Ireland were crowned for hundreds of years. From the parking lot it does not look like much, but as you enter what looks like a normal, unkempt field, you become aware that this is not just another hill part of Ireland. We were only there for a short time but I could feel the historical significance. Most of the history that I have been learning is about the British and Ireland, but this place is so much older than that.

An aerial picture of the Hill of Tara

As you walk in the field you are surrounded on either side by mounds (like walking in a very large ditch). In the times of the High Kings, the walls would have been very high and you would not have been able to see over them until you get to the end where you can see in all four directions. This was a part of the ceremony as the new king's procession brought him to Tara.

Mound of the Hostages, though it never held hostages. It is a passage tomb constructed around 3,400 BC (older than the pyramids). The cremated boys of dead were put in the tomb along with some belongings. On Samhain and Imbolc, two Celtic holidays, the tomb is illuminated by the sun.

Rath of the Synods; a ring fort with three banks. It was mostly destroyed in the 19th century when a group called the British-Israelites dug there in a quest to find the Ark of the Covenant between 1899 and 1902 after misinterpreting ancient texts.

The Stone of Destiny, the coronation stone, said to scream when the hand of the true High King touched it.

A fairy or holy tree. People tie ribbons or other objects to it in the hopes that the fairies or God will answer their prayers. 

It is said that St.Patrick Visited the Hill of Tara after lighting the Paschal fire in the 430s, which convinced the High King of Ireland to convert to Christianity. There is now a church next to the Hill of Tara called St. Patrick's.