most unmistakably to the nature of the ceremonies. They referred to the marriage of the Sun with the land of Ireland at the great harvest festival, and implied the co-operation of the gods’ worshippers[1] to make the harvest fruits of the earth secure.
As to the Fál[2] stone, it was brought from “Falias” by the Tuatha Dé, and long after, when it revealed itself by screaming under the feet of King Conn, his druid told him “in the land of Tailltiu it shall be for ever, and that land shall be the sporting Óenach.” Then Lug mac Ethlenn appeared in dazzling beauty. The Book of Leinster says Fál was “a stone of vision”[3] at Tara, which was to remain at Tailltiu . . . its heart sprang out[4] after its welcome to Conn”; Christian redactors added, “or the birth of Christ,” when the oracles were dumb. The Bruden Da Derga had “a stone, Fál, in the upper part of the Bruden.”[5] The Coir Anmann says that Failbe Fál Choirtech was the first person to set up a pillar in Eriu,[6] and Nuada, who made love to the Fál, was named also Finn Fál, “the White Fal.” The reputed Lia Fail at Tara is white, with rounded ends and about 6′ long; it was evidently intended to be recumbent, but was set over the dead rebels’ grave in 1798; its fall, some years since, revealed its true character and size, Petrie being quite misled on these points. Noting the frequent occurrence of holed stones in Ireland
- ↑ See “Temair Breg,” pp. 324-5, also Encyc. Relig. and Ethics, vi. pp. 168-9. The Tara harvest seems to have been affected by the king’s legal position and marriage.
- ↑ See study of “Fál” in “Temair Breg,” also “Leab. Gabh.” i. p. 145 and “Manuscript Materials,” pp. 620-1.
- ↑ Hib. Lect. iv. p. 567, for “a stone of worship,” see Ancient Laws of Ireland, iv. p. 143; there was pillar worship at Clogher, Tyrone, and at Magh Slecht.
- ↑ So St. Patrick expelled a demon visibly out of a “holy” stone, and St. Mello at Rouen drove the demon Seragon from the image of Roth.
- ↑ Rev. Celt, xxiii. p. 307.
- ↑ p. 293. Fál may be, as Rhys conjectures, an old word for a pillar.
