Sligo Day 3: "Give me your best Little Mermaid."
Wow. I am so
thankful we have had three great days in Sligo so far. We had class this
morning in Sligo City Hall, then got on a coach for Carrowmore, Knocknarea, and
Strandhill Beach. The sun came out and shined some welcomed warmth on us
all—perfect weather for an amazing day of exploring!
Class was held
in Sligo City Hall this morning, in the fancy chamber where the city council
meets. I could not believe they would lend this space to us, but they seemed
very happy to have us there. The man who showed us the room told us all about
the events that would be taking place in Sligo this weekend as a part of the
commemorative 1916-2016 Rising celebration, which happen to be here while we
are. How cool! We can go see a military parade and even a free concert if we
want to. The day was sunny and warm and our classes went smoothly. After a
quick break for lunch, it was time to board our bus for the outdoor portion of
the day.
Our first stop
was Carrowmore Neolithic Cemetery, where some of the first people who came to
Ireland settled about 5,800 years ago—the oldest tomb is dated to approximately
3700BCE. That is nuts. Carrowmore has 30 separate tombs surviving today, which
is the largest number of clustered tombs in all of Ireland. We learned from our
lovely tour guide Jean that there is a tomb on every mountain tip surrounding
Carrowmore. From the pictures, you can see how many peaks there are. It seems
unlikely. But sure enough, at each highest point, there is a tomb that somehow
lines up with the rest of the monuments on the ground. The tombs are filled
mostly with the ritually cremated bones of past human inhabitants as well as some
of their of impressive possessions: jewelry, carved deer antlers, etc.
After looking at
the smaller tombs and learning about the local mythology and history of the
place, we continued on to the main tomb. All of the smaller tombs face toward this
cairn, so archeologists assume this was a place of great authority and constant
contact. The cairn had to be rebuilt by a team of Swedish archeologists some
years ago, but the dolmen on the inside is still completely original. Jean told
us an amazing story about the nasty witch of winter who rode from her home in
the saddle of the mountains over the land of Carrowmore, dropping the stones to
make the monuments. This witch was in direct comparison to the powerful Queen
Medb (Maeve), who is also a goddess of sovereignty. The two women were seen as
representations of the land in winter (the grumpy witch) and summer (beautiful
Medb).
But the most
exciting part about this dolmen is what they learned in 2008. On a clear
morning when the sun rises through the saddle in the mountains directly facing
the tomb, the streak of light will cross directly through the dolmen stones
onto the back wall of the structure. Then, a v of light crosses with a v of
shadow as the sun comes up further. All of that is exciting in itself. But
wait! This all happened on Halloween—the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain
(Sow-ain). Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic calendar and also the
beginning of winter. The streaks of light and shadow cross to represent the
changing of seasons, the changing of Medb to the witch. That is too cool to be
a coincidence. It was awesome to hear that knowledge and let it soak in.
Ancient cultures’ engagement in mythology will never cease to amaze me. And it
is even greater to know that these sites are still there, and that they still
work the same way. We can see that history right in front of us. It is palpable
and electric.
I crossed the
street to see a couple more examples of stone circles and portal tombs before
boarding the bus again, this time bound for Knocknarea. We just learned all
about Queen Medb, and now we would go visit her tomb atop the mountain. Local
legend has it that she is standing straight upright in her cairn, in full
battle armor, pointing at Ulster and ready to defend against them. Apparently
Medb stole the king of Ulster’s finest bull, and the two regions are forever in
combat over getting the prized cow back. I could not wait to get up there and
experience this fascinating piece of religious history. Sadly, however, I had
to climb a steep mountain to get there. No rest for the curious academic, I suppose.
The walk was not
long, but was pretty steep. The views from the top are truly stunning, however.
I was so glad to see almost 360° views of Sligo county—from Carrowmore, to our
hotel and Sligo town, all the way to our next destination of Strandhill and the
Atlantic Ocean. I said hello to Medb in her tomb and then made a circle around
the edges. The sun had come out full force by now after a brief retreat into
the clouds, so I could see anything and everything I could ever hope to. The
afternoon light settled slowly onto the mountaintop when we all started to head
down to the bus. We stopped along the way to pet and befriend some young bulls—obviously
descendants of the infamous bull that made Medb famous. It was an honor to meet
them.
Our last stop of
the day was Strandhill town and beach. The weather was absolutely amazing for
hanging out on the rocky shores. We popped into a local ice cream shop called
Mammy Johnston’s, which served delicious scoops, crepes, cakes, and pastries. Everything
looked to die for. I decided eventually on a cup of Hazelnut Biscuit and Award
Winning Honeycomb, which were both delicious. We sat on the ledge, eating our
ice cream and watching the waves come in.
I have never
really been to a rocky beach before, so it was great to hear the waves pull the
rocks back out with an amazing sound. It was a rough sound, but also mesmerizingly
enchanting. I watched the surfers out on the waves and decided that I would go
back and try that tomorrow. When we finished our ice cream, we climbed the
rocks down to the shoreline and played in the water as it came in. We might
have gotten a little damp, but we didn’t care. The salt air was doing us all
good. It was a great way to end our school week.
The bus left
Strandhill at 5:30 so we could be back for dinner at 6:30. We ate, then just
relaxed in the room for the rest of the night. Our bus leaves at noon for
surfing tomorrow, so we have to be up and ready to go by then. I absolutely
cannot wait to go back to the beach and try my hand at surfing again. I won’t
have a sail this time, so hopefully I can do a little better. It is going to be
so fun!
♥
photo credit Diana Cleveland & Katie Walker
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