Óenach Tailten

Óenach Tailten was an annual assembly for racing and athletic contests held at Teltown, Co. Meath, for a week around 1 August, once feast day of the god Lug. It was presided over by the king of Tara, and the 9th‐century tract Baile an Scáil links its celebration to a Tara kingship relevant to the whole island (see also high kingship). However, D. A. Binchy has pointed out that recorded participants between the 8th and 11th centuries were drawn only from lands subject to the northern and southern Uí Néill, the dynasties which monopolized the ‘Tara’ title throughout that period. The annals occasionally note riots between population groups who attended, and in 811 the monks of Tallaght successfully organized a boycott of the proceedings to avenge an Uí Néill violation of their sanctuary. Violent rivalry between northern and southern Uí Néill dynasts for the Tara title in the late 9th century may lie behind repeated failures to celebrate the óenach at that time and certainly contributed to its long‐term abandonment after what was described as the ‘black’ óenach of 927. Sporadic revivals in 1007, 1120, and 1168 were propaganda exercises by claimants to the Tara kingship, resulting in more overtly political assemblies. See also tailteann games.

Katharine Simms