Lia Fáil

The Lia Fáil at Tara

The Lia Fáil (Irish for Stone of Destiny) is a standing stone at the Inauguration Mound (Irish: an Forrad) on the Hill of Tara in County Meath in Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland. In legend, all of the kings of Ireland were crowned on the stone up to Muirchertach mac Ercae c. AD 500.

Mythical origin

In Celtic mythology, the Lia Fáil is said to have been brought to Ireland in antiquity by the semi-divine race known as the Tuatha Dé Danann. (It has been found that the stone from which it is carved is actually native to Ireland.) The Tuatha Dé Danann had travelled to the "Northern Isles" (Geoffrey Keating identifies this with Norway) where they learned many skills and magic in its four cities Fáilias, Gorias, Murias and Finias. From there they proceeded to the north of Scotland, bringing with them a treasure from each city - the four legendary treasures of Ireland. From Fáilias came Lia Fáil "the Stone of Fál"; also called the Stone of Destiny (Latin: Saxum fatale). The other three treasures are the Claíomh Solais, the Spear of Lugh and The Dagda’s Cauldron.

Mythical powers

The Lia Fáil was thought to be magical: when the rightful High King of Ireland put his feet on it, the stone was said to roar in joy. The stone is also credited with the power to rejuvenate the king and also to endow him with a long reign. Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to cry out under his protegé, Lugaid Riab nDerg, and from then on it never roared again, except under Conn of the Hundred Battles and Brian Boru.

Inis Fáil

It is from this stone that the Dé Danann metonymically named Ireland Inis Fáil (inis meaning island), and from this 'Fál' became an ancient name for Ireland. In this respect, therefore, Lia Fáil came to mean 'Stone of Ireland'. Inisfail appears as a synonym for Erin in some Irish romantic and nationalist poetry in English in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Aubrey Thomas de Vere's 1863 poem Inisfail is an example. Fianna Fáil ("the Fianna, warriors, or army of Ireland"; sometimes rendered "the soldiers of destiny") has been used as a sobriquet for the Irish Volunteers; on the cap badge of the Irish Army; in the opening line of the Irish-language version of the Irish national anthem; and as the name of the Fianna Fáil political party, the largest in the Republic of Ireland.^[1]

See also

• Stone of Scone the "Stone of Destiny" for coronation of Scottish, English, and British monarchs.
• Stones of Mora where the Swedish kings were elected.
• Prince's Stone where the Dukes of Carinthia were installed.
• Sword in the stone (King Arthur) also revealed the rightful king.
• Blarney Stone tourist attraction said to endow those kissing it with the "gift of the gab".

References

1. ^ Lord Longford; Thomas P. O’Neill (1970). Éamon de Valera, chapter 21. ISBN 978-0-09-104660-6. 

External links

• Pictures of the Lia Fáil
• The History of Ireland, Geoffrey Keating, pp205-212