It all started on a hill with a heroine... Tlachtga', The First Lady of Athboy
Halloween is now the second most celebrated festival in the world after Christmas and it’s only getting bigger, in America it’s so much celebrated that the preparations start in August. For all its global appeal few outside Ireland know that this tradition emanates from the small but special hill of Ward in Athboy, known as Tlachtga in ancient Celtic Ireland. The emigrant Irish brought their Samhain tradition to the States and they embraced it making Halloween what it is today.
The first Halloween though was the bonfire of the Celtic New Year lit here on this sacred site just outside Athboy every October 31st and then the flame was brought to the king at Tara and then all over the land to light up the country in a blaze of annual festivities. This sacred site is actually called after a special woman in the history of the Celts whose name was also Tlachtga. The hill is reputed to be the burial place of this mythical Celtic goddess with a tragic story.
She was worshipped by the Celts as her father was a sun, light and fire god with magical powers way back in ancient pre history along with the other gods they worshipped like Boann who the river Boyne is named after. It was said Tlachtga herself tragically died in the prime of her life while giving birth and so she too was always celebrated as part of the Celtic Samhain festival. The name Tlachtga translates as a spear of the earth which may have been a lightening rod in reference to her father.
As the era of the Celts came to an end, Tlachtga was all but forgotten. So her true story has been actually lost in the mists of time but it was also clouded by the arrival of Christianity much later on with its changes to her story along with the pagan ceremony itself to suit the narrative of the new religious age. The Celtic New Year and harvest party celebration of the earth and our ancestors morphed into the Christian All Hallows Eve and hence the name Samhain being replaced by Halloween.
It is only now that the relevance of Tlachtga to the Halloween story is being recognized again. So in 2018, local actress and tourism professional Fiona Dalton decided to honour this famous local goddess by researching and devising a living history performance called Tlachtga Abhaile that tells the story of the true origin of Halloween and of Tlachtga and all of this in her guise as the goddess herself.
It has been performed in Athboy’s Lawrence hotel since its premiere and at each Púca Festival as well as at cultural events at other times of the year. Tlachtga starts an additional job this Halloween as she will also be leading groups around the town of Athboy pointing out the interesting history of this heritage town and no one should know it better than the woman who has witnessed it all. The tour is on for five days and will be running once a week all year as well. Further information and bookings at https://daltonsmusicalhistorytour.com/boyne-valley-tour-experiences/.