Onward to Tara and Newgrange!

Today I had another fantastic day on my second field trip of the weekend. This time, I went with my Irish Studies class. The destinations were the Hill of Tara, Mellifont Abbey and Newgrange. The field trip was actually required if you were in the Intro to Ancient Celts class (which I was), but it didn't matter to me because I would have happily gone along anyway. Considering how fickle the weather is in Ireland, we were very fortunate that the weather was gorgeous, partly cloudy and sunny (although it was very cold, in the lower 40s).

The gorgeous gently sloping hills of Tara are untouched by civilization and rife with history.

We started off promptly at 9am, arriving at the Hill of Tara just before 10am. Tara is a series of rolling hills that are very sacred to Ireland from a historical, archaeological, mythological and spiritual standpoint. In ancient Ireland, the King of Tara was said to be the most powerful king in the land. Tara was also where most of the important religious ceremonies were performed, including animal sacrifice and burial rites. Tara was also featured most prominently mythological stories, and was said to be a place of great power where the ancient Celts could commune with their gods. Geographically, part of the reason Tara is so gorgeous is because of the view. It is only a few hundred feet above sea level, but it's position allows you to stand on the tallest hill and see (on a clear day) far across the land of Ireland in any direction.

Just look at that view!

After Tara we went to two brief stops at the old and new (well, new relatively speaking...) Mellifont Abbey. The older abbey had been converted primarily into a graveyard. However, surrounded by all the dead people are two very ornate Celtic Crosses. These crosses, carved out of stone, have symbols and scenes from the Bible etched all over them. It was very spectacular to stand in front of the 1,000+ year old cross and still see the faded etchings of the scenes that the ancient artists wanted to depict.




After viewing the crosses we then hopped back on the bus for just about 10 minutes before stopping again to move to the much-more sophisticated Mellifont Abbey, which is a well-preserved ruin. You could actually see the whole floor plan of the abbey from the low cliff that we stood upon. I would also like to note that it was just a little bit warmer in this location, which was nice.

Finally, we got back on the bus and headed toward the place I had been truly looking forward to the most--Newgrange. It is properly called Bru na Boine (that's brew-nah-boyne) in Irish. Let me tell you a little something about Newgrange: it is the location of the oldest historical ruins in Europe. The area around Newgrange has many different interesting points of note, but the most noticeable thing (the thing you can see for miles as you approach) is the burial mound. A huge, circular mound embedded into the earth. The mound alone covers a whole acre and was built with over 100 million tons of material (according to the tour guide). The mound is also over 5,000 years old. It's older than the Egyptian pyramids. It is older than Stonehenge by at least a millennium. The mound was used for more than just burial--apparently it was a popular place for elders to meet and commune, perform religious services, and possibly even track the movement of the sun and moon.

Our approach to the Newgrange burial mound -- a large mound that you can see for miles coming up.

The entrance to Newgrange was designed with a unique and special "sun roof" -- a window above the front door. The window is carefully placed so that, during the winter solstice (Dec. 18 - 24), when the sun rises the light will pierce through the sun window all the way deep into the center of the mound, lighting it up for approximately 20 minutes each morning. Our tour guide took us inside the mound itself (unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside). The front door led us into a very narrow passage with giant slab rocks on either side of us. The passage gently rises up approximately 2 meters as you walk (so the floor becomes level with the sun roof). The inside of the chamber is shaped like a cross and once contained the remains of some very wealthy and influential Celts from a long, long time ago. Once the rest of the group and I were safely enclosed at the center of the mound, the tour guide turned off the electric lighting. We were plunged into absolute, complete darkness (it was a bit unnerving, to have your eyes wide open but not be able to see your own hand). Then, the tour guide turned on a special light that mimicked the effect of the sun entering the chamber during the winter solstice. It was a beautiful light. It may have been artificial but...it was a magical moment.

The entrance to Newgrange, guarded by giant kerb stones etched with Neolithic art.

After we left the burial chamber that was it, tour over. We boarded back onto the bus and headed back home. It was a very cold day, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Saying that Ireland is beautiful just doesn't do it justice. I don't think I can even put into words just how simply gorgeous these historic places in Ireland are...the rich green hills, the quaint cottages and landscape dotted with centuries-old ruins...I keep taking all these pictures in hopes to capture some of the beauty, but sometimes I feel like a picture just pales in comparison.

Irish Word of the Day: winter -- gheimhridh
Winter is coming. -- Geimhridh ag teacht.