Tara Grave Pic: Causes.com

A new cause has been started on causes.com to petition the Irish Government to re-bury the bodies dug up in constructing the M3 motorway through the Tara monuments in accordance with the World Archaeological Congress’s guidelines.   During excavations for the M3 Motorway which desecrated the Irish Valley of the High Kings at Tara, a large number of ancestral remains were removed from their Sacred Burial Grounds. Just one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland.

World Archeological Congress  2008 (22/07)

The Vermillion Accord on Human Remains
Adopted in 1989 at WAC Inter-Congress, South Dakota, USA.

1. Respect for the mortal remains of the dead shall be accorded to all, irrespective of origin, race, religion, nationality, custom and tradition.

2. Respect for the wishes of the dead concerning disposition shall be accorded whenever possible, reasonable and lawful, when they are known or can be reasonably inferred. …

[source]

This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeir…

1. www.taraskryne.com

Tara Skryne Preservation Group

About TSPG:
We are an allied group of stakeholders, campaigners and concerned citizens who wish to improve the Tara Skryne Landscape after the destruction wrought by the M3 Motorway through the most Sacred, Mythical, and Historical Valley of Ireland.

We are a volunteer, non politically affiliated organisation comprised of members of various groups who stood against the route of the M3 Motorway through the Tara Skryne Valley. Now that the Motorway has opened we stand together to demand the preservation of what remains of the Tara Skryne Valley ie. its protection against further inapproriate development as well as greater protection for our National Monuments and sacred places countrywide.

Read more about us, our aims and objectives and why we formed at www.taraskryne.comJust one of our group’s many aims and objectives includes the recovery of the remains and artefacts unearthed during excavations of the M3 Motorway from the National Museum of Ireland. This call has received the backing of the World Archaeological Congress. We wish for the respectful reinternment of these ancestral remains and ask that you the reader, sign the petition just as Actor Stewart Townsend, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon, Musicians Laoise Kelly and Steve Cooney, along with thousands of others worldwide have done.

Sign the petition at this link and please pass it on.

http://www.petitiononline.com/taraeire/petition.html

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

THE World Archaeological Congress has urged the Government to ensure that no large commercial or residential development is allowed along the route of the controversial M3 motorway. And the forum, made up of practising archaeologists, has said that excavations carried out along the motorway route in Co Meath — which runs near the hill of Tara — were performed to the “highest professional standards”.

Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2008-07-30 01:38:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Hill of Tara Pic: Irish Central

The Hill of Tara (Irish Temair na Rí, “Hill of the Kings”), located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland. It contains a number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of Árd Rí na hÉireann, or the High King of Ireland. Recent scholarship claims that despite the rich narratives derived from mythologies, Tara was not so much a true seat of kingship, but a sacral site associated with kingship rituals. Other historians have argued that the concept itself is mostly mythical. [Wiki]

The Destruction caused by the Motorway

The M3 motorway, which opened in June 2010, passes through the Tara-Skryne Valley – as does the existing N3 road. Protesters argue that since the Tara Discovery Programme started in 1992, there is an appreciation that the Hill of Tara is just the central complex of a wider landscape. The distance between the motorway and the exact site of the Hill is 2.2 km (1.37 miles) – it intersects the old N3 at the Blundelstown interchange between the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Skyrne.

The presence of this interchange situated in the valley has led to allegations that further development is planned near Tara. An alternative route approximately 6 km west of the Hill of Tara is claimed to be a straighter, cheaper and less destructive alternative. On Sunday 23 September 2007 over 1500 people met on the hill of Tara to take part in a human sculpture representing a harp and spelling out the words “SAVE TARA VALLEY” as a call for the rerouting of the M3 motorway away from Tara valley. Actors Stuart Townsend and Jonathan Rhys Meyers attended this event.

The Hill of Tara was included in the World Monuments Fund’s 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. It was included, in 2009, in the 15 must-see endangered cultural treasures in the world by the Smithsonian Institution.

The Curse of Tara and its Fairy Forts

Irish Central reports that Activists claim desecration of Tara for highway sparked ancient curse.

An ancient curse of Tara has been unleashed in Ireland by the destruction of the Fairy Forts. That’s according to anti-highway activist Carmel Divine who says a “modern day Curse of Tara” has been unleashed on Ireland by the “destruction and desecration of the M3 Motorway.” She said that Seannachaí Eddie Lennihan warned the Irish Government in early 2007 against destroying the Fairy Forts in Ireland’s historic Tara Skryne Valley. She said the Seannachaí warned the Irish Government that they would be cursed. At the time, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority, mocked the Seannachaí and said they weren’t concerned. Diviney says all of Ireland’s woes date back to July 2007 when work began on the new M3 motorway. She lists the following incidents as evidence of the Fairy Fort curse.

Wakeman Plan of the Tara Complex Pic: Wiki

The Fey in Action

In June 2007 Minister for the Environment Dick Roche signed an order destroying the Lismullin Henge. Lismullin Henge was a 4,000 year old astronomical observatory and place of worship and hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds of the century.

Roche was since held up by an armed gang in the Druids Glen Hotel and also lost his job and was then demoted.

Martin Cullen the then Minister for Transport nearly got sucked out of a helicopter when the door fell off on one of his extravagantly expensive trips.

The chief Health and Safety Officer was seriously injured by a falling tree when felling began at Rath Lugh in 2007.

A worker was killed when he became trapped at Fairyhouse where there have been many accidents on this stretch of road.

A human tooth was discovered in a digger which was used to destroy the famous ancient feasting grounds and gathering place of ancient Harpers at Baronstown. Shortly afterwards the stairs in the National Museum collapsed.

And finally, just last summer, several large wasp nests were found throughout the valley. In Celtic Lore the appearance of the wasp was associated with the anger of Mother Earth.

Diviney says that Ireland will continue to be cursed as long as it continues to meddle with sacred ground.

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Proposed Slane Bypass Pic: Save Newgrange

Vincent Salafia of Save Newgrange tells us that the Irish Times has reported that new consultations are being ordered to discuss the Slane Bypass that is threatening the ancient home of Angus Og, the Brugh na Boyne – the monument that is now called Newgrange. Click on the image to the left to see the detail.

The Irish Times reports:

A NEW round of public consultations on controversial plans for a dual-carriageway bypass of Slane, Co Meath, has been ordered by An Bord Pleanála, with October 15th set as the closing date. A public notice advertising the new round of consultations was published recently in national newspapers. The original consultation period closed on February 25th last.

An Bord Pleanála had sought additional information from Meath County Council on the road scheme, including whether an alternative route running to the west of Slane had been examined. The current proposal, which is being advanced on behalf of the National Roads Authority (NRA), would run to the east of Slane, some 500 metres from the boundary of Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site.

The appeals board also sought alternative designs for a new bridge over the river Boyne, noting that the cable-stayed bridge originally proposed would be visible from the World Heritage Site. It also wanted the council to produce more detailed archaeological and geophysical reports on investigations of 44 archaeological sites that would be affected by the original scheme.

The information was sought “in order to clarify certain points in the environmental impact statement [EIS] and assist the board’s assessment of the likely effects on the environment” of the road. This followed complaints to An Bord Pleanála by the Save Newgrange group, former attorney general John Rogers SC and leading archaeologist Prof George Eogan that the EIS was flawed.

Save Newgrange spokesman Vincent Salafia said:

“We will be waging an international campaign over the next month, particularly in Northern Ireland, to get as many objections as possible filed with An Bord Pleanála.”

Save Newgrange

Irish Times

———————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Descripition Page.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: Derry Journal

The Derry Journal (an Irish Newspaper ) Tells us : A Derry based software company has teamed up with iconic Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick to bring the world of Celtic myth and legend into the 21st century.EyeSpyFX, a spin out company from the University of Ulster yesterday delivered ‘Ireland; Myths and Legends’, an application for the recently released iPad to the Dublin headquarters of computer giant Apple.

EyeSpyFX’s IPad App has been developed in close collaboration with one of Ireland’s most celebrated artists, Jim Fitzpatrick who is internationally renowned for his colourful and iconic decorative Celtic artwork.

Anthony Hutton, who founded EyeSpyFX in 2002, says the collaboration with Jim Fitzpatrick came about as a result of a chance conversation at an international trade show in Barcelona in February earlier this year.

“Our products were attracting a lot of interest from international buyers. They seemed surprised, not only that the company was based in Ireland, but also that it had no uniquely Irish content so we decided had to do something about this.

To Read more please visit  The Derry Journal

———————————————

You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store our Descripition Page,

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: My Guide Ireland   The sculpture photographed above is from a 1988 commission entitled Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne), a large bronze relief in Sligo.

Taken from the magical article by Brendan Patrick Keane on Irish Central. We would like to apologise to Brendan Patrick Keane and www.irishcentral.com for inadvertently breaching copyright and thank them for their understanding and patience in this matter. Ruth & Gary

"Marriage is not a love affair. A love affair is a totally different thing. A marriage is a commitment to that which you are. That person is literally your other half. And you and the other are one. A love affair isn’t that. That is a relationship of pleasure, and when it gets to be unpleasurable, it’s off. But a marriage is a life commitment, and a life commitment means the prime concern of your life. If marriage is not the prime concern, you are not married…..When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship."

[Read more of this magical article by Brendan Patrick Keane on Irish Central]

Pic: Sacred Texts

The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Táin is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage Ulster hero Cúchulainn. The 1904 translation is now freely available to readers on the Sacred Texts website.

The Táin Bó Cúailnge has survived in two main recensions. The first consists of a partial text in the Lebor na hUidre (the “Book of the Dun Cow“), a late 11th/early 12th century manuscript compiled in the monastery at Clonmacnoise, and another partial text of the same version in the 14th century manuscript called the Yellow Book of Lecan. These two sources overlap, and a complete text can be reconstructed by combining them. This recension is a compilation of two or more earlier versions, indicated by the number of duplicated episodes and references to “other versions” in the text. Many of the episodes are superb, written in the characteristic terse prose of the best Old Irish literature, but others are cryptic summaries, and the whole is rather disjointed. Parts of this recension can be dated from linguistic evidence to the 8th century, and some of the verse passages may be even older. [Wiki]

Sacred Texts also carry two other translations: the Lady Gregory Cuchulain of Muirthemne and the Joseph Dunn version The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge). We will try to work from all versions when we present the Ulster Cycle for you.

More power to the Sacred Texts elbow!

Pic: BreakThru Films

Now here’s something I’m really excited about! I don’t often go over the top about something new (OK, well that’s not exactly true is it – I can get a bit excited! ) but this new film by BreakThru Films about CuChulainn looks as though it is going to be fantastic! Using “visual innovations as portrayed in recent films like 300, Pan’s Labyrinth and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy“, the scope of the Ulster Cycle story about CuChulainn is going to brought to life in this ambitious project by this UK-based Film company. When Celtic hero Cúchulainn returns home from exile the war spirit Morrigan seduces him with tragic consequences: forcing him to wage war on war itself.

Hound: The Story

Buried in the mythic ancient past lies an Ireland divided up by four tribal “nations”: the original inhabitants and three exotic new peoples swept in on successive waves of immigration in a world as much in flux as the present, co-existing in a perpetual cycle of war and truce. A clash of cultures and ideas as vital as any in our accelerated modern world, their world is over-laid by the mystic, the magical, and the realm of the spirits. Into this world is born Cúchulainn, a semi-divine hero marked out by destiny as the greatest warrior but bound for tragic glory: yet in the brutal tragedy of his life lies the seed of a united island.

Pic: BreakThru Films

When the other three nations, steered by the war spirit Morrigan and led by the malevolent Queen Maeve, invade his homeland to take the prized Brown Bull of Cooley, Cúchulainn returns home early from military training in the Land of Shadows to help his kin. He finds his people struck down by a mysterious sickness, unable to defend themselves, and is forced to make a lone stand against the invaders. Manipulated by the war spirit, Morrigan, Queen Maeve sets her sights on far more than a bull and pits Cú’s oldest friend – her best champion – against him.

Realising the futility of war after he defeats his friend Cú turns his grief stricken rage on the war spirit herself. He tragically fights fire with fire, and when that fails he chooses sacrifice over surrender. It is the only way to ensure the war spirit can never use his power against mankind again. [Source]

Hound: The Film Company behind the film

Pic: BreakThru Films

Pic: Save Newgrange

Just what is it with Governments and heritage that makes them want to build over it? The Irish Independent announced on January 22nd that the proposed route of the Slane bypass in Co Meath will run just 500 metres from the edge of the ancient Newgrange complex.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday released an environmental impact study for the route which shows that although it skirts the perimeter of the Bru na Boinne complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it would be almost 3km from the famed burial chamber at Newgrange.

Planning permission for the 3.5km dual carriageway has been sought from An Bord Pleanala, and the NRA said the proposed route would have the “least impact” on the archaeology and heritage of the area.

Included in the scheme is a new bridge over the River Boyne, which will be around 200 metres long.

Bypass Slane Campaign group spokesperson Michelle Power said:

We welcome the plans and look forward to the day permission is granted and funds are allocated for its construction. After numerous fatal accidents human life must take precedence.

Brian Taylor, of An Taisce in Meath, said the route seemed to be the “least offensive” option. Documents for the planning application show there are 44 archaeological and cultural sites within 500 metres of the route.

Read the full article on the Irish Independent site and more at the Irish Herald. Join the Facebook Save Newgrange campaign to help spread the word and help Vincent Salafia of Tarawatch protect Newgrange by signing the Petition.

Introduction While the ancient Irish tales abound with warriors and kings (not to forget Queen Medbh!), another figure at almost every turn emerges to out- rank them. Usually referred to as the “druid”, this person upon closer inspection is seen to be not any stereotypical wizard with his potions and paraphernalia, but a poet who, instead of having to memorize rote “secret spells”, produced spontaneous verse often in a deliberately archaic diction. A lengthy essay on the philosophy and practise of Irish druids is beyond the scope of this book, but given the misrepresentation of druids in the popular media, a few summary remarks are in order.

In the ancient Irish tales Irish druids are frequently depicted in detail. They bare no resemblance at all to the white-robed oak- worshippers of Julius Caesar. Irish druids wore, not white hooded robes, but rainbow capes, often feathered tunics and head-dresses (note, in the kast roscin this collection, how the druids mock the monks’ hooded robes!). The important trees were rowan, yew, and hazel, and mistletoe was not found in ancient Ireland. While they occasionally carried magic wands and stones, in the far great majority of cases druids’ only magic “tool” was their voices. They were, emphatically, not “pagan priests” and most of what we think of as priestly functions fell to the local king or tribal chief. They were sages, advisors, “wizards” – their closest modern equivalents would be scholars sometimes called upon to be government advisors, although in many cases they were unaffiliated with the rulers and conducted what we nowadays would call “private practice”.

But over all else, they were “poets”. The word is placed in quotes because above all other cultures and societies in the history of the world, ancient Ireland accorded poets what can only be termed nearly divine rank. Poets paid no taxes and were exempt from military service. They had a freedom of movement to cross political borders denied even kings, and wherever they traveled they were entitled to the best of available lodging. And woe to anyone who harmed, or even offended a poet! One can do no better than simply cite the story of Cairbre whose satire is included in the present collection: a wandering poet visits Tara in the days when the gods themselves ruled there, and is denied what he considers suitable food and a fine enough bed. The next morning he enters the throne room at Tara (which was, by the way, named not after the king but called “Réalta na bhFile”, “Star of the Poets”!), and recites five spare lines of verse, whereby the King of the Gods himself is toppled from his throne. In a second example, also included here, Ireland herself is conjured up, out of the magic mists, by a “poem”. (The word “rosc”, plural “roscanna”, is a rhetorical, usually magical, chant, and this word will be used throughout this book to distinguish a “poem” that can topple gods or conjure whole nations from the modern less potent variety.)

One of the purposes of the present collection is to make the archaic roscanna more readily available to the modern reader, in both English and Irish. With this in mind, and in contrast to many “scholarly editions”, the orthography has been modernized, within the limits of phonetic accuracy, i.e., “ben” has been rendered as “bean” because the former is simply the older orthography for the latter, and only the latter will be recognizable by the modern Irish reader; however, “túatha” has been left in the older form and not rendered as “tuatha” because the difference between the two forms is not one of spelling, but basically of pronunciation (”too-uh-thuh” versus “tueh-heh”). Without a long thesis on Old Irish phonetics, this will go some way toward making the roscanna readable by persons who know Modern Irish, provided they remember that aspirated medial consonants are pronounced (e.g. “Teamhair” is said as two syllables). In a few cases has out-right modernization been employed (e.g. “cen” is given as “gan”). Such “normalization” of spelling is not, admittedly, by any means standard practice, but no less a respected scholar than Myles Dillon (in his Stories from the Acallam, DIAS 1970) argued for its use. However, much of the archaic grammar has been retained, such as inbed initial object pronouns prefixed to verbs and dative plurals in “-ibh” because in such cases to give the modern rendering would completely destroy the phrasing and scan of the lines. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-07-15 14:28:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter