Ancient Ireland is clouded in mystery and pre-Christian ritual. Many Irish symbols are well known but the origins are unclear. There is something in the old Celtic ways that weave stories together concerning the tree of life, endless time, serpents and Mother Nature. Any interest in the ancient ways of the Celts will send you on a journey deeper into the human imagination and connectivity to the Earth. The below tidbit of true history gives a brief historical backdrop to the ancient worship occurring at the time. Old Irish kings, queens and war champions have always seemed unreal, but they were not. They existed within the caldron of politics and paganism. Life was mysterious then and as we look back the mysteries were a source of wonder.
Taken from A History of Ireland by Eleanor Hull
The earliest tales of Ireland are partly concerned with mythological personages who seem to have been regarded as deities, known as the Tuatha De Danann, and partly with the doings of a group of heroic men and women, of whom the hero Cuchulain is the central figure. The chief centre of the group was Emain Macha in Ulster. In this district the outlines of forts, burial-places, and chariot-paths may still be seen, and the neighbourhood still retains old names and traditions corresponding to the legends as we have them written down in manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The same may be said of the neighbourhood of Rath Cruachan, now Croghan, in Connacht, which is the centre of a similar group of Connacht traditions. In general the tales relate to an ancient struggle for pre-eminence between Ulster and Connacht, which was then ruled by a queen named Meave (Medhbh) as formidable as the British warrior-queen Boadicea (Boudicca). She is said to have gathered to the contest the “Four Great Fifths”or provinces into which Ireland was then divided and to have invaded Ulster, primarily to regain possession of a famous bull, but actually to assert the authority of Connacht and the South over that of the North. The incidents and fights into which the war resolved itself, in which her chosen warriors fought in single combat the champion of Ulster, Cuchulain, form a long and varied story. The Táin bó Cualnge is the chief epic of early Ireland.
This is a small part of true tales from ancient Ireland in pre-Christian times. The mysteries surrounding the ancient Irish are still with us in various modern organizations in and around Pennsylvania. Take a look below at some of the mysterious side of Irish culture.
Celtic Myth & Moonlight , Reading
The Celtic Christian Church , Canadensis
Columcille Megalith Park , Bangor
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