Ashling’s Ireland
It’s winter, and the sun went down a couple of hours ago. Outside the small thatched house are miles of bog and empty forest, the nearest human half a day’s walk away.
Ashling is warm, and her belly’s full. For that she is grateful.
Ireland, which Ashling would have called Ériu. The green is Uladh. The arrows point to Armagh, the king’s seat in Ashling’s time, and Dublin, which didn’t exist as such until the Vikings founded it in the ninth century. (I wanted to show you where it is because of Grump’s birthmark, and because today it’s the capital of the Republic of Ireland.)
In the center of the house a fire is burning low, flickering on the faces of everyone Ashling has ever loved. The air is thick with wood smoke and the smell of roasted meat. Someone is telling a story, learned from a bard at the last festival, about how the World began, or why the sun sets so early in winter, or where people go when they die.
A hunting dog is huddled against Ashling’s back. He’s not always friendly, but it’s a comfort having him there. Beyond him, even the inside of the house is dark.
It’s the fifth century (the 400s) in Uladh (pronounced Ull-oo), a northern kingdom on the island English speakers call Ireland. Ashling, daughter of Maedoc, is fourteen years old, living with her family a couple of days’ walk from Armagh, the king’s seat.
Four months from now, she will be killed by Dál Fiatach raiders and will go to the Other Land, expecting to be given a new life. To her surprise, she will stay in the afterlife to serve the Lady for sixteen centuries, then will be sent back to the World as a banshee.
Where she’ll meet a boy called Conor, but that’s a different story. Let’s talk about her life in Uladh.
Uladh is the Irish name for the modern-day province of Ulster. In old Irish, Ireland is called Ériu, but Ashling rarely calls it anything. Her distant ancestors were Celts who migrated from central Europe. But she doesn't travel much—just to the neighbors’ or to Armagh for the year’s four important festivals.
Christianity is only a rumor in Uladh—any missionary activity is to the south. Ashling’s family and their neighbors honor gods who used to live in Ériu but who moved underground when the Celts arrived.
A reconstructed crannog at Craggaunowen in County Clare, Ireland. The photo is from a blog post by archaeologist John Bedell, which also shows a real crannog being unearthed by archaeologists. http://benedante.blogspot.com/2012/11/drumclay-crannog.html
Ashling knows how to spin and weave and cook, but also to fight with a sword. She is particularly good with cattle: During her last summer in the World, she will live with them by herself for two months at the summer pastures. She hates to see her cattle slaughtered, but she knows it has to happen if she wants to eat.
She rather enjoys hog-slaughter.
Maedoc’s family consists of his wife and children as well as a few servants (perhaps slaves) and at least one foster child—sending your kids to live with another family is how you make friends with another household. The family home is a round wicker-work and mud ("wattle and daub") building with a thatched roof.
Maedoc has protected his home and outbuildings by building them on a crannog, a manmade walled island in the middle of a bog. A single causeway connects the little island to solid ground. Building on a crannog makes a home easier to defend from raiders.
Raiders are a fact of life.
Ériu is divided into many small kingdoms and tribes. Ashling’s people, the Uí Néill (pronounced Ee Nay-ill), once drove the Dál Fiatach out of the Armagh area and into the eastern part of Ulster. The Dál Fiatach didn't take this kindly. Between late spring and early autumn, they and the Uí Néill raid each other’s cattle and fight for territory. Sometimes they take slaves.
For example, Ashling once knew this guy named Declan, who . . .
But that’s a different story.