Looking for the roots of Halloween in Ireland’s Boyne Valley

By ERIN MULLALLY

November/December 2016

It is the night of October 31, and hundreds of people have gathered at the Hill of Ward, once known as Tlachtga, in County Meath, Ireland. Some wear robes and masks and carry torches and banners emblazoned with spiritual symbols. It is all part of a revival of the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced “SAH-win”) that includes processions, chanting, and storytelling. “Let’s raise our voices together and call back Tlachtga from the mist of time,” proclaims Deborah Snowwolf Conlon, one of the festival’s organizers. It is a contemporary celebration repeated annually, of a piece with countless other seasonal celebrations across the world that have roots both modern and ancient. In this case, neither the choice of site nor date is incidental: The Hill of Ward was one of the main spiritual centers for the ancient Celts, and Samhain was first celebrated at the same time of year millennia ago. New archaeological work is looking closely at the history of the Hill of Ward, which until recently had been overlooked in Ireland’s archaeologically rich Boyne Valley. Researchers are hoping to discover how its use and value evolved over the centuries—along with the traditional rites and celebrations that eventually led to the modern festival of Halloween. Only 30 miles north of Dublin, the Boyne Valley is the location of one of the world’s most important arrays of prehistoric sites. It includes the well-known “passage tombs” of Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth, which at around 5,500 years old predate even the pyramids of Egypt. The Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the ancient High Kings of Ireland, is also nearby. Among them sits the relatively modest Hill of Ward, on privately owned farmland, with striking views across the valley. The site today consists of four concentric earthworks that enclose an area roughly 500 feet in diameter, with some of the banks either partially or completely destroyed. Though some archaeological survey work was done at the Hill of Ward in the 1930s, the site was virtually untouched until summer 2014, when a team led by Stephen Davis of University College Dublin began excavations. Using lidar and geophysical tools, Davis and his team have determined that the Hill of Ward was built in three distinct phases over many centuries. The first phase was constructed during the Bronze Age (1200–800 B.C.), while the last dates to the late Iron Age, around the time of Ireland’s conversion to Christianity (A.D. 400–520). “The middle phase, or physical center, of the monument, which itself was built in multiple stages,” explains Davis, “is proving the most mysterious.” Much of the excavation work done to date at the Hill of Ward has focused on this middle phase, which is providing tantalizing clues into the ritual roles it may have played throughout the centuries. Sidebar: Night of the Spirits

The importance of the Hill of Ward begins in ancient Celtic mythology with the story of the druidess Tlachtga, the daughter of a sun god named Mug Ruith, who was said to fly in a machine called the roth rámach or “rowing wheel,” that carried the sun across the sky. A version of the legend tells us that Tlachtga was attacked and raped by the three sons of her father’s mentor, a powerful wizard named Simon Magus. Tlachtga then gave birth to three sons, one from each of these three fathers, at the site of the Hill of Ward. According to legend, she died there during childbirth. From then, the hill held her name and the circular earthworks visible today are said to have been built to mark her grave, with one early source stating that a “fortress” had been raised on the site. Outside the realm of myth, the site gained further importance when it became associated with the Celtic festival of Samhain, the period from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, which marks the beginning of winter and the transition to a new year. The ancient Celts believed that this night marked a critical spiritual transition, when the spirits of all who had died since the previous Oíche Shamhna (“Night of Samhain”) moved on to the next life. Tradition has it that the ancient Celts assembled on Tlachtga on October 31 and built a sacred fire on which sacrifices, perhaps even human, were offered to thank their pagan gods for a successful harvest. On that night, all fires in Ireland are reputed to have been extinguished, and torches lit from the Tlachtga fire were carried to seven other nearby hills to illuminate the surrounding countryside. “As Tlachtga was known as a goddess of the sun, the Samhain fire ceremonies could have been an attempt to recognize, or even protect, light and warmth against the growing darkness of winter, as well as obviously representing the sun itself,” says Eamonn Kelly, former Keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland. According to Kelly, rituals and ceremonies carried out at Samhain offered people the chance to pray for the return of the sun and gave assurance that it would, in fact, come back. “Likewise, the end of October could also be seen as a time when the natural world is dying. The harvest is finished, plants and trees have died, and livestock have been slaughtered for the winter,” he continues. “Combining these factors together with the disappearing sun, the ancient Celts felt that Samhain was the point in the year in which the world of the living and the spirit world were closest.” As the Christianization of Ireland began in the early fifth century, the celebration of Samhain began to fade, but not before contributing strongly to the Halloween festivities we know today (see “Night of the Spirits”). “The celebrations are mentioned to us in the early writings of some of the first Christian scholars settling in Ireland, including St. Patrick himself,” says Kelly. In later centuries, Tlachtga became an important location for other gatherings, including a national assembly of kings and religious leaders in 1167 organized by the last High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. “With Samhain traditions slowly dying out, Tlachtga must have still had a strong hold on the imagination,” says Kelly, “with leaders possibly choosing it as a meeting site to symbolically demonstrate power and stability.” Nevertheless, Tlachtga eventually drifted into quiet obscurity. It came to be known as the Hill of Ward, after a landlord who was evicted from the property by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. Cromwell, who was leading an invasion of Ireland, reportedly used the site as an encampment, which may have resulted in the damage to the earthworks. Sidebar: Night of the Spirits