Tlachtga - Hill of Ward

Tlachtga (Hill of Ward) near Athboy, Co. Meath, lies about 19 kilometres (12 miles) from the Hill of Tara. The upstanding earthwork is a quadrivallate enclosure about 150 metres (490 feet) in diameter and is most impressive from the air.

Geophysical survey has shown that it overlies a larger trivallate enclosure of about 195 metres (640 feet), with a smaller enclosure to the south. Excavation points to ritual activity from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age.

In early tradition Tlachtga was one of the great assembly places of Mide, alongside Tara, Tailtiu and Uisneach. Folklore and later writing associate it with the Great Fire Festival begun on the eve of Samhain (the eve of 1 November). The festival probably lasted several days. The site takes its name from Tlachtga, daughter of the druid Mug Ruith, who in legend died there giving birth to triplets. The hill is clearly visible from Tara, and the Samhain fire lit here was remembered as a prelude to ceremonies at Tara.

With the coming of Christianity the festival was incorporated into the Christian calendar as a time of remembrance for the holy souls, so the Samhain festival of the ancestors retained its relevance. Customs of Samhain that did not fit into Christianity survived as Halloween. Irish immigrants carried the Halloween tradition to North America in the nineteenth century.

More on the Hill of Ward and Samhain at Tara.