Welcome To The Tain March

On Thurs at 4.30 June 7th 2012 an army replicating the army of Queen Maeve of Connaught, will gather and camp at the Ford in Ardee Co.Louth, to re-enact the battle between  great friends ,Ferdia and and Cuchulainn .

 On Friday June 8th they will march to Tallanstown and on to Knockbridge Co. Louth, site of Cuchulainn's death ,arriving at 7pm to be met by the celtic warriors of Knockbridge blocking the path of the approaching army.

On Saturday June 9th  they will march  from Knockbridge and arrive to the outskirts of Dundalk at 2pm .Here the army will move to the great plaza in Dundalk Centre ,to the iron age emcampment for a re-enactment of the Táin, and later march to an encampment situated at Bellurgan Park

On Sunday 10th June 2012 , with foot soldiers and mounted warriors they will cross the Cooley mountains  from Glenmore into Carlingford .They will be fed with salted bread ,a Celtic custom that ensures no fights will break out among the warriors, while there. A great feast will follow  in Carlingford before they set off in search of the Brown Bull.

The Tain Bo Cuailgne( The Cattle Raid of Cooley) is Irelands most famous saga.The story very briefly is that Queen Maeve of Connaught sat down one night with her husband Ailill to compare their possesions.They found that these were equal with one exception, Ailill owned a white bull called Finnbenach, of which Maeve had no equal. There was one bull in the whole of Ireland equal to Finnbenach,The Brown Bull of Cooley,and Maeve had to have it. She set off from her palace in Rathcroghan in Co. Roscommon, a few miles from Tulsk and marched on Cooley. The only thing standing in her way was Cuchulainn, the greatest of Irish Celtic hero's who defends the Brown Bull and the lands of Ulster