Gathering in New York to Save Tara
One of the basic principles of the Order of the White Oak is social action:
We wish to apply the ethical insights we derive from the ancient Celtic past to contemporary concerns; environmental and ecological issues, human rights and social issues, and many other national and international peace and social justice issues that are of rapidly increasing importance.
Our understanding of the roles of the ancient Druid prompts us to follow them in an involvement in the academic, artistic and social justice arenas, as well as in purely spiritual and religious matters.
I haven’t had much of a chance to take on that role here at Druid Journal so far, but it’s certainly my intent to do more of it in the future.
Tara is the ancient seat of the kings of Ireland; it’s a hillside at the mythopoeic center of Ireland, where the nobles and chiefs would come every year to pay homage to the king and reaffirm the ties that bound the island together. The whole countryside there is riddled with archaeological sites, most of which remain unexplored because the country simply cannot afford to examine them all.
Now the government of Ireland is planning — indeed, they have already begun — to rip a huge road right through the center of this area, destroying who-knows-how-many irreplaceable sites in the process. There are alternative routes that could be taken, simple changes that would avoid the Tara area, but the government refuses to consider them. The EU has demanded that the Irish government stop work immediately, since they recognize the value of the area to the world’s heritage, but digging continues regardless. Frankly, this is an affront to the rule of law, an outrage to archeology, base theft from future generations and the knowledge of humankind, and — on top of everything else — sacrilege against a pagan holy site.
Check out http://www.savetara.com/ for things you can do, in Ireland or out of it. Besides that, if you’re going to be near New York City this weekend, head out to this festival!
Update:
My mentor, Ellen Evert Hopman, pointed out that the Harpers are gathering in a number of places this weekend, including Tara itself; here is the text of their statement:
The Campaign to Save Tara is pleased to help the organisers by issuing a
press release on the following events. Contacts are within the email.
Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin
087-9249510
http://www.savetara.com<<Many can rightly point out that it would be an archaeological loss, and
a historical one. It is also a spiritual loss, since even before the
conversion by St Patrick of Ireland’s High Kings it was a place where
the Irish sought to express their spirituality.>>On Saturday 22nd September 2007 at 3 p.m. the harpers of Ireland will
gather at Dáil Éireann to demonstrate publicly the strength of their
opposition to the destruction of historic cultural sites at the
Tara/Skryne Valley as a result of the current route of the M3 motorway.
The harpers will assemble with their harps along Kildare Street, and
will submit a petition to Minister John Gormley insisting he implement
alternatives to the continued destruction which is taking place.
Ireland is unique in having a musical instrument, the harp, as its
national emblem. This indicates the primacy of the harp in Irish
culture. The sites currently under threat are inextricably linked with
the harping and bardic traditions for more than 2,500 years.
Tara was the gathering place for thousands of harpers to 142 kings, and
the harp was an integral part of the ancient Irish parliament at Tara.
The harp has been used in the coat of arms of Ireland since 1270 and is
the symbol of the Irish State today. It is found in the seals of the
President, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Government Ministers, on State currency
and is the insignia of the Irish Law Courts.
It is an outrage that the Irish people should be forced to choose
between infrastructure and heritage. As a country we are embarrassed
internationally by profit-driven, shortsighted planning as exemplified
by the fact that World Monument Fund has placed Tara on its list of 100
most endangered sites worldwide.
Many can rightly point out that it would be an archaeological loss, and
a historical one. It is also a spiritual loss, since even before the
conversion by St Patrick of Ireland’s High Kings it was a place where
the Irish sought to express their spirituality. And significantly for us
as a nation, it was the place of birth of Christianity in Ireland. The
gathering of harpers says that it is also a musical and cultural loss
and asserts that the sound of Tara’s harp will not be drowned by traffic
jams and the cash registers of toll plazas.
Further information from www.myspace.com/TaraHarpers
Laoise Kelly Tel. 086 2603405 or laoise.kelly@face.ie
Anne-Marie O’Farrell 01-2966222 or 087-2348964 or amofharp@iol.ie
www.myspace.com/TaraHarpersNew York
In America on the same day - Sat 22nd Sep 2007 there will a similar Tara
demonstration at 11am Consulate General of Ireland 345 Park Avenue
between 51st and 52nd. Contact savetarany@yahoo.com
www.myspace.com/TaraHarpersNY
The poet Paul Muldoon has agreed to speak at the NY event.Los Angeles
This demonstration will take place at 2.30-5.30pm Martin Luther King
Auditorium, Santa Monica.
See details at : www.cmh2.com/savetara-la . For more info Contact Karin
Wilson, event coordination email: kw@cmh2.comChicago
Chicago Tara demo is at 12 Noon-2pm Irish Embassy, Wrigley Building, 400
N.Michigan Avenue at the Chicago River (Richard Wallace312-855-1300
ricoworld@ameritech.net - www.myspace.com/32fields
Also be sure to check out the site tarawatch.org, a clearinghouse of information about and for activists who want to save Tara.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
What the Irish government is doing is simply terrible. This is an utterly unnecessary scheme, no doubt designed simply to reduce the amount of time and money they must spend. The destruction of Tara is devestating culturally, historically and environmentally. Even if the road is partially diverted away (as it is by roughly 2km), it is still damaging to the local area. I am very pleased to see that a lot hard work, effort and dedication is being put in to help stop this destruction. I have added my name to the petition, and although I cannot do anymore than that, I wish those who can success.
September 24th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Thanks for your comment, Peter. Thanks for your sentiments, and for signing the petition! It really is astounding and horrifying that this project is even being considered, much less carried through. But it is certainly raising a big outcry…
October 17th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
“May I be free from anger.” is not a negative statement. The negative version would be “May I have no anger.” or something simlar: “no” or “not” are the negative markers in English. “Anger” isn’t a negative in the *linguistic* sense, although it can be considered a negative emotion. Negative emotions aren’t the negatives meant by the admonishment to avoid negatives in prayers/spells. It’s the marker itself that tends to “disappear,” leaving for example “May I have … anger.” So the version “May I be free from anger.” should work fine.
October 17th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
My boss Anne Niven noticed your blog and was intrigued by your writing. She pointed me here, and I’m intrigued also. We’d like to encourage you to check out our magazine PanGaia and see if you might want to write an article or two for us. Guidelines are posted on our website.
November 10th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Elizabeth, my apologies for taking so long to reply; I’ve had a number of urgent family and work crises to take care of.
First, I’m so glad you find my writing intriguing! I’ll definitely take a look at your magazine’s submission guidelines.
You are of course correct that “no” and “not” are among English’s negative markers, but they aren’t the only ones. I tend to think — though of course this is arguable — that the phrase “free from anger” is “negative” in the sense that it calls attention to what you want to avoid, rather than what you want to attract.
More specifically: my suspicion from working with phonosemantics is that logical operators of any sort are ignored. The phrase “Y is free from X” has a complex implicit logical implicature, i.e. “all E, such that E is type X, are in state S, such that S is NOT “near” Y (in some vague sense)”. Thus the phrase “free from” has a “not” hidden in its meaning.
There are some linguists that argue that lexical meaning is “atomic”, i.e. that you can’t break down a phrase or word’s meaning in the way I just did without losing something essential. I’m sympathetic with this view, and I don’t think that the entire meaning of “free from” is encapsulated in the logical form I provided in the last paragraph. Still, I think it’s part of the meaning, and an important part.