Trick or Treat Hill

Over 60,000 people came to the annual Púca Festival in the Trim-Athboy area to celebrate the birthplace of Halloween. The ‘birthplace’ itself is on the Hill of Ward between the two towns and many of the visitors would have gone there late at night to join in the festivities.

It was an afternoon when I went recently to see what attracted them but the place was deserted (except for the sheep).  Neither were there any signposts to inform me whether I had arrived at the right place and when I finally found the entrance it was firmly locked.

Like other famous hills in Meath, such as Tara and Loughcrew,  the ‘birthplace of Halloween’ does  not impress with its height as you approach.  You have to get on the summit to appreciate their commanding view.  Also what you find on the site itself might not, at first glance, live up to expectations. Rolling grassy mounds do little to indicate past glory unless you have a guide to explain or you have done your homework.

You could start by looking up ’Tlachtga’, the original name of the Hill of Ward (Ward was a landlord at a much later date).  Tlachtga, the daughter of a legendary figure called Mog Ruith, died on the Hill while giving birth to three sons. There are similar stories about ‘sacred marriages’ that took place on monument complexes to ensure good harvests. The message is multi-layered like the hill itself which served different functions over the centuries.   

Most famously, the hill is associated with Samhain, the Celtic ‘New Year’ festival on the evening of 31 October.  It comes from the time when farming people paid close attention to the behaviour of the sun. As it weakened and the dark half of the year crept in, druids gathered on sacred high places to light bonfires and pray for the sun’s return. 

At such ‘in-between’ moments, when one half of the year ended and people waited for a new year to dawn, inhabitants of the ancestor’s ‘other world’ could emerge and frighten people. Ways of appeasing or diverting them evolved and such customs continued into Christian times becoming Halloween (the Eve of the Feast of all Saints).   

Tlachtga was not the only place in Ireland or the world to mark this important annual event but it was a major site in Ireland and so popular that Irish emigrants are said to have brought Samhain practices to the United States and beyond. Today many flock back to the Hill of Ward for the Samhain experience.  

I did not know all this before my recent visit to the Hill but got help when returning the key.

I was fortunate in meeting the landowner and his wife. They welcome visitors but had been told by insurers they have to keep the entrance locked.  As residents on the Hill they are well informed of its heritage and even conduct guided tours during the summer. The farmer himself was convinced that the hill not only has historical importance but a unique energy. He told me the most authentic relic there from ancient times was probably a half-submerged stone near the top. It has an intensity that many had felt and noted.  Indeed it had impressed me enough to stop and take its photo when passing.  On checking the photo the stone did seem to have an unusual glow. I agreed that a geologist should take a closer look to determine its origin and properties.     

On the Hill its present day guardians, sheep not druids, gathered around to scrutinise me. I was reminded of a line from an old poem:

‘Tlachtga, proud and princely hill,has seen the passing of many a stern king’.

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