3000-Year-Old Baby remains found at Halloween's Birthplace

The 3,000 years remains of a baby has been found at a site in Ireland that is believed to be the birthplace of Halloween. Studies show that the fully intact skeleton belongs to a 7-10 month child. The remains were unearthed during a three week excavation at Tlachtga, on the Hill of Ward near Athboy Co. Meath. One of Ireland’s most enigmatic sites, the Hill of Tlachtga features impressive circular earthworks which are best seen from the air. Medieval texts link the site to Samhain, the ancient Celtic Festival which is the precursor to modern Halloween.

 The skeleton was found on the bedrock at the base of a 1.5m (3-foot, 28-inch) ditch. It may never be possible what caused the death of this child. Excavation and surveys carried out using airborne laser, revealed the area was a key ritual site. This same site, has several different phases of monumental enclosures and it is believe that those are associated with festivals and rituals potentially dating back as far as 1,000 B.C.

The Hill of Ward and Tlachtga, is a site steeped in folklore. According to Irish mythology, it got its name from the daughter of the powerful druid named Mug Ruith. According to legend, the remains of the druidess, who is said to have died on the hill after giving birth to triplets, are buried there. Tlachtga is also believed to be the site of the Great Fire Festival in which sacrifices were offered to the gods on Samhain eve. All hearth fires throughout Ireland were extinguished and then lit again from a central fire on the hill.

As I have written before about Samhain, I will quickly write about what it is, to place this post into the context. Samhain means "Summer's end", and it was the great festival of the dead. This was a time when the doorways to the otherworld, or a gap between worlds, opened and journeys through both realms could be made from one side to the other. This means that people could visit their ancestors, the deities and others beings, and vs versa. What goes in, also comes out. The veil between the worlds of the living and the world of the dead was believed to be the thinnest on October the 31st, a day which lies exactly between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

The excavation revealed the monument of Tlachtga is actually the last of at least three phases of enclosure on the hill. There is at least one small enclosure, about 15 inches in diameter, enclosed by a very large, tri- or quadrivallate enclosure, about 650 feet in diameter, which was replaced by the monument we may see today. The excavations also brought to light evidence of burning, which could have been ritual fires or the result of glass-making.

It is believed that the child was most likely not the victim of any human sacrifice on the ritual site. The remains have been taken to the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin for further examination.

Bronze Age Medicine House

In the Irish countryside and in Northern Portugal, among so many buildings of the Bronze and Iron ages, it has been found some really interesting buildings with the same function as the Sweat tents so well known among the Lakota indians of Northern America, known as Medicine Lodges or Medicine Houses. These buildings like anyother similar ancient constructions in Finland, Sibéria, and other countries where Saunas existed, have the same function of ritual purification and to communicate with the spirits. These houses are all very similar in the way they work, a simple hole in the ground with tree trunks covered with earth and stones. In Northern Portugal and Galicia, both on Portuguese and Spanish soil, such buildings were found, dated from the Bronze and Iron Ages, when the Celts and the Celtic tribe of the Lusitanians lived there, it is known that these people took at least two steam baths per week, but this wasn't just to clean the body, in truth it was more for religious and spiritual practices, for the purification of the body and to interact with the spirits of the elements, of fire, water, air and earth, all combined in one place and making steam, this also helped enter in trance and actually communicate with other spirits. After this long bath, making the body sweat and all the impurities of the body cleansed in a way to protect oneself from evil beings, the person would dive in cold water of the near by well or river to wash away any negativity in the body.
Nowadays we know about the ancient practices and even the rituals that take place in such occasions, because shamanic tribes still exist and use the same method, but unfortunatelly we don't know what kind of sacred ritual was performed during these ceremonies in the Celtic culture, but it is interesting to see that worldwide people share the same habits, and that many European countries even share the same type of architectural style and the buildings have exactly the same function.
To know more about these ancient European practices we have to take a close look to the similar practices of the North American indians, or the Siberian peoples, to have a little idea about these steam baths with spiritual purposes, because unfortunatelly with the coming of Christianity, there practices were also banned, what seems to be a simple steam bath, was indeed a cause to pursuit those who did it.
It is possible that people might add hallucinogenic herbs in the process, so the steam might help to induce trance, some Indo-European tribes did it, and also the Eurasian tribe of the Scythians did it and there are accounts of it because their kingdoms spread all the way to Bulgaria.

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