The Destruction of Tiernmas and His People

Then the king spoke; and as he half raised himself from his throne, a flush of anger lighted his countenance. "Foolish and presumptuous old man, how canst thou dare to oppose the will or dictate to the authority of thy king? Thou art old and despised, and the consciousness of this has given thee boldness. But the presumption of even thine imbecile old age may provoke the resentment and meet with the punishment it deserves. Seek again thy retirement, and there lament, as long as it gratifies thy spleen, the downfall of a despised creed, and call with all thy might on thy imaginary God to interpose; but risk not again thy safety by intruding thy reveries on our festivity."

The priest still calm and unmoved replied: "O king, thy threats fall idly on one who is weary of life, and would gladly seek an asylum from his toils. But thy wickedness—thy blasphemy of the name of the living God—shall not pass unpunished. Already I see the dark cloud of His wrath gathering over thee. Again I warn thee to desist from thy purpose; but if thou persevere, beware, O Tiernmas, beware of to-morrow!"

He spoke with slow and impressive solemnity and his eyes kindled with a lustre more than human as he uttered the shadowy denunciation. He turned round, and with the same stately tread left the hall.

The voice of revelry was resumed, but the uncontrolled gaiety of the revellers had vanished. The prophetic tones of the priest as he denounced divine vengeance seemed still to echo in their hearts, and a vague, shadowy presentiment of coming evil flung a gloom over their festivity. The king too was occasionally silent and thoughtful, and the spiritless efforts of all to dispel the lurking sadness but rendered it more apparent.

The morning of Samain Eve rose bright and glorious; all nature smiled and all hearts were glad that the day of sacrifice came forth with such auspicious loveliness. On a low eminence situated in the midst of a plain (Magh Slecht) stood the future deity— the great idol Cromm Cru—a huge pillar-stone rudely fashioned into a hideous resemblance of the human form. Its head was covered with gold, and it exhibited a countenance of frightful deformity. Surrounding it in a circle stood twelve lesser attendant idols, all facing the gigantic Cromm, and each bearing on its own visage a distinct and peculiar ugliness. Within this circle and in front of the great idol stood the altar of sacrifice, a vast cromlech,[2] inclined, so as to allow the blood of the victim—a human victim on all important occasions—to flow in slender streams down its face, from which the sacrificing priests augured the future destiny of the nation.

Into this sacred enclosure it was ordained that none should ever pass without undergoing the bloody ordeal of "sanctification." The worshipper, having arrived within a certain distance of the circle, prostrated himself on his bared hands and knees, and in this humiliating position crawled towards the idol; as he moved over the rough stones, the red traces of his blood should mark his pathway, and after this terrible trial he was permitted to enter. This dreadful form of worship—the sufferings of the worshippers—and the horrid custom of offering human sacrifices, were commemorated in the name which the place retained for ages after—the Plain of Shrieking.[3] The whole system of worship wore the character of gloom, terror, and cruelty.

Never had the Plain of Shrieking been encumbered with such a mass of human beings as on this festival of Samain Eve. Thousands poured in from every side, all eager to exhibit their obedience to the royal commands. Innumerable votaries were seen on their knees, struggling to reach the inner circle, at the entrance of which stood two priests to admit such as had properly qualified themselves. Many, who from want of sufficient firmness or devotion failed in inflicting the requisite amount of self-torture, were rejected by the priests, and obliged to retrace their way and approach a second time with more decided marks of devotion. Scores sank exhausted under the trial; the whole plain was reddened with their blood; but the agonising groans and shrieks of the wretches were drowned in the shouts of the multitude as they encouraged those who wavered or congratulated those who succeeded.

A low murmur now ran through the crowd—all eyes were turned expectant in a particular direction,—and at length the chariot of the king burst on their view, followed by a long train of white-robed priests slowly wending their way towards the idol.

The king was seated high above the rest; the magnificence of his attire and the majestic gravity of his countenance dazzled the gaze and awed the imaginations of the multitude. In front of the priests was borne the victim, a beautiful infant, forced according to the savage law instituted by the king from the arms of its mother, because it was the first-born of those children whom it was imagined her prayers had obtained from the god. The children thus dedicated were generally bred as priests or priestesses; but the importance of this day's ceremony required an offering more than usually acceptable; and accordingly the condemned criminals from among whom the victim was on ordinary occasions chosen were spared, and the little innocent was doomed to propitiate the favour of the god. The priests were clad in long flowing robes, and their white beards descended on their breasts.

The procession advanced towards the circle amidst the acclamations of the multitude; the priests entered; and the king, descending from his chariot, placed himself with the high priest in front of the idol. The victim was placed on the altar, and on each side stood the two officiating priests, each holding a knife, and ready at a given signal to complete the dreadful ceremony. The child, too young to be conscious of its situation, played with the vestments of the priests, or gazed laughingly at the splendour that surrounded her.

Notes

[2] No: cromlechs were tombs, not altars. See note, page 118.

[3] No: Magh Slecht means the "Plain of Prostrations."