This Saving of Tara

"One night of the nights of the Sidhe I would not give for your kingdom..."

Samhain. The Feast of the Dead. The Time of No Time that heralds the end of summer and the beginning of winter, the end of one year and the beginning of another. To the Celts, such transitional states, whether they occurred in the day, month or year, were considered particularly dangerous. We expose ourselves to the powers of chaos and uncertainty, the great expanse of the unknown stretches before us, and we stand alone with neither stone under us nor star above us for guidance.

At Samhain the dark half of the year takes up its reign once more, growing stronger, forcing us to confront the shadows of Primordial Night. All barriers are lifted, all boundaries are removed. Those of the Otherworld walk among us. It is their night, one night out of eternity. Though this night may seem eternal, yet with the rising sun comes a new day, a new year. We gaze upon the Lia Fail, the stone of Destiny, returning order to the land.

The cosmological significance of Samhain is very aptly demonstrated in the legend of the saving of Tara by Fionn mac Cumhal. It was shortly after Fionn had completed his Bardic training that he journeyed to Tara to seek his inheritance.

THE LEGEND

The High King and all the nobles of Ireland were gathered together at the great hall of Tara for the feast of Samhain. But the king's heart was sore, and the reason for this is not difficult to tell. Every year for nine years past, the Fear Sidhe had come out of the fairy hill in the north to burn down Tara. He was Aillen, son of Midhna, from Sid Fionnachaidh. He would come playing the sweet music of his clarsach that wooed to sleep maidens, kings and warriors alike. None could resist the music, such was its power over the mortal race. Then Aillen would blow flames of crimson fire from his mouth, bright dancing flames that burned everything, from the four great ramparts, to the last blade of grass.

The king was desperate. He pledged that if he could find one among the men of Ireland who could keep Tara standing until the dawn, he would give to that man whatever was his rightful inheritance.

No sooner had the king spoken when Fionn stepped forward and agreed to do this. The king gave him the assurances of the four kings of the provinces, and of the Druids, that he would keep his word if Fionn fulfilled the task. Then secretly Fionn went to seek out Fiacha, the son of Conga, that had been a friend to Fionn's father. Fiacha offered him a deadly spear that would never make a false cast, and instructed him in how to use it:

"When you will hear the music of the Sidhe, let you strip the covering off the head of the spear and put it to your forehead and the power of the spear will not let sleep come upon you".

So Fionn stepped out, armed with the spear, to make a tour of Tara. It was not long after the sun had set that he heard sweet sorrowful music, lulling, wooing to sleep. Fionn remembered the words of his friend and swiftly uncovered the spear. He held it tightly pressed to his forehead, while all around him, as if in a dream, Aillen wove his charm of sleep, slow, steady, growing stronger. One by one the men of Ireland surrendered to the Fonn Sheen, the enchanted music of Faerie.

But Fionn alone stood fast, holding his ground. Aillen shot a flame of crimson fire from his mouth, but Fionn held up his four folded cloak against it. He caught the flame and brought it down, burying it deep within the earth.

Then Aillen saw that he had been defeated, and turned to go back to Sid Fionnachaidh, but Fionn would not let him escape. He followed close on his heels, and as Aillen was going in through the doorway of the Sid palace, Fionn made a cast with his spear. The spear went through Aillen's heart and he fell dead. Fionn struck off his head and took it back to Tara, and claimed the leadership of the Fianna from that day forward.

THE MEANING

Within this ancient tale, as in all the legends, there lies hidden much symbolism. To draw out the deeper meanings is a very rewarding experience, and one which is inexhaustible. Each time we hear a legend, we discover alittle more, we are able to place one more piece in the puzzle that intrigues us so, that leads us into a new awareness of our rich heritage.

The first thing to note is that the feast of Samhain takes place at Tara. Tara is the seat of the High King; he represents the linchpin of his kingdom, the central axis around which all else turns. Tara itself, along with the Lia Fail, represents the order and foundation of the earthly plane of Ireland. Rees notes that the seating of the provincial kings in the great hall resembled the layout of the brandubh board, with the four kings, representing the four cardinal points, arranged in a diamond around the central seat of the High King. The four directions plus the centre, the cosmological five fold division of the Celtic Otherworld lands, mirrored in the physical divisions of the land of Ireland. Beyond the four walls of the great fort of Tara lies the unknown, the raw elements, deep Space and Time. It is the shield of Sciatha that normally keeps these realms at bay, but as Rees remarks: "potentially Tara was always in a state of siege". Fionn himself walked right around the fort before the sun set. The High King Conn of the hundred battles did the very same thing, every day he would make a tour of the ramparts of Tara incase the Fomoire took Ireland by surprise.

Aillen represents the chaotic forces of the Otherworld that threaten to overthrow this order and stability; it is the Universe ever seeking to return to its natural state. Most of the legends deal with this eternal struggle of the Otherworld invading this world, or of mortals wandering into the Otherworld realms.

We are told that Aillen came from his Sid mound in the north. It was from the north that the Tuatha De Danann came, bringing their four magical treasures. Though it is not named as such, it is surely the magical spear of Pisar that is given to Fionn in order that he may defeat the forces of the Otherworld. In the legend of the Earth Shapers we learn that the weapons were used to defeat the monstrous beings that writhed and swarmed in the depths of the abyss. In other words, it is with the four elemental weapons that the Tuatha De Danann forged order out of chaos; without such order in the universe life could not exist.

The use of fire to defeat and overthrow the reign of order at Tara is also very interesting. Fires were the focal point of all the quarter festivals, but at Samhain and Beltaine the fire took on extra significance. At both these times of the year all fires in the land had to be extinguished. Then the lighting of the ritual fire was undertaken by the Druid priests at Uisnech, thus proclaiming the right of rule. When St. Patrick lit the fire on the hill of Tara before the fire had been lit at Uisnech, he was transgressing a very ancient and sacred brehon law, which stated that no fire could be lit before the ritual fire at Uisnech. Aillen's use of fire would also be transgressing this law, signifying an attempt by Otherworld forces to claim the right of rule on this world, represented by Tara.

This brings to mind another ancient law which states that if someone can build a house on wasteland during one night, and have a fire lit in the hearth by morning, then they could claim the right to the land for as far as they could shoot an arrow. Once again we see the symbolism of "one night" (the eternal, primordial "one night") and the right of rule sanctified by fire.

It is with the aid of his four folded cloak that Fionn is able to extinguish the flames. The four folded cloak, like the four angled harp of the Dagda, represents not only the turning of the four seasons in eternal balance, but also the four directions of the compass which keep us orientated to the universe. It is by staying within the four seasons, the four elements and the four directions that we are able to keep firmly within the boundaries of natural order, resisting the powers of chaos all around.

In true Celtic style, however, there is something of a paradox here. For later we are told that Fionn slays Aillen as he is going in through the doorway of the Sid mound. While the four folded cloak may hold the Otherworld at bay, it alone cannot defeat Aillen He must be slain while in a vulnerable, in between state, while being in neither one world nor the other. This is the most dangerous state, at the most dangerous time, for both Fionn and Aillen alike, yet Fionn turns this to his own advantage, and using the spear he symbolically fights fire with fire, and wins.

There are a great many other meanings that can be drawn from this legend. I have not even touched on the whole area of the significance of the Sid mounds, nor of the duality between the light and the dark year, between the Fomoire and the De Danann. However, I hope I have illustrated that with study and perseverance it is possible to begin to decipher the inner meanings behind the legendary stories that lie at the heart of our Celtic heritage.

[(c) Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust]

[Author: L. MacDonald, 1994]

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