“chronologers” give us a liberal margin as to the date, B.C. 1569, 1545, 1399, 1229, 1066, 1071, 554 or 331, and credulous writers still select and believe some one of these! Tailltiu is seen by Cu Chulaind,[1] but has no place in his legends. The Tain bo Cualnge tells how a great-grandson of Conall Cernach (Iliach or Amairgen) drives certain warriors over it northward.[2] The “Will of Cathaoir mór” says that his son Fiacha shall enlarge Tailltiu.[3] The High King Dathi[4] about A.D. 422 celebrated the Tailltiu óenach with unusual splendour in a vain attempt to propitiate the gods before his raid into Gaul. St. Patrick, after his visit to Tara, purified the Oenach Tailltinn “Taltenam ubi fit agon regale.”[5] He won over the sons of Nial and built Donaghpatrick Church in a fort near Tailltiu.[6] We have already alluded to King Diarmuid’s celebration (539-567); he “held the óenach of Uisneach at Belltaine,[7] that of Taillti at Lugnasad, and that of Tara at Samhain,” putting anyone to death who transgressed these solemnities,[8] as a pagan monarch might have done. No wonder that the Church has drawn his picture in such dark colours in its tale of the cursing of Tara. He also held a special convention, “the men of Erin sitting on the benches of the Assembly ground” (such scaffolds being provided under the Ancient Laws),[9] he and his two wives sitting there in state. Even such foolish tales as how Ambacuc swore falsely at Tailltiu, with St. Ciaran’s crozier round his neck, and how his head fell off, how he lived in this
- ↑ Tain bo Cualnge, in an outlook from a hill, a favourite custom of the hero.
- ↑ Ibid. pp. 293-5 ; Legend of Goll, Rev. Celt. xiv. p. 401.
- ↑ Leabhar na g Ceart, p. 209.
- ↑ Manuscript Materials, p. 287.
- ↑ Book of Armagh, f. 10 a 2.
- ↑ Tripart. Life, p. 464 n.
- ↑ Belltaine, in Cormac’s Glossary, p. 19, is defined as “lucky fire, two fires, which the druids make with great incantations. . . . They used to drive cattle between them.” I have seen this done in Co. Limerick about 1871-4 and passed through and over the fires myself.
- ↑ Silva Gad. ii. pp. 78-89.
- ↑ v. p. 475.
