Holy Ground

The major changes in society are often changes involving land; from demographic movements of people to the shifts and changes as the earth remakes itself. Our battles are fought on, and over, land. We participate in what's done on the land and what's done to the land. In recent years many western cultures have polarized the debate: Land as commodity/land as gift. Baldly speaking: To use up or to replenish. Irish society, prizing which has long been the image of home for millions of people, and still close to its own struggle for nationhood, has been slow to move away from the ideal of land as the essence of home. An awareness of the value of beauty has focused attention on the unique landscapes of this country; as an agrarian society, consciousness of land as sustainer is part of the fabric of society.

The power invested in ownership coveys identity, and the struggle for identity begins and ends with place. The way in which we define and claim ownership - whether fields, boundaries, borders, territory - defines the scope of our influence. The most intense struggles are not for man-made structures, but for the very way of the earth - identity, and thus survival as a people. Irish myth is woven from rituals of the land; as pagan and as early Christian. The value of land is greatest to the people who take their identity from it and Ireland's history is a history of the land. Colonization, which Ireland has known so bitterly, aims to erase indigenous rights to the land and therefore reconstruct the very life-force of the colonized culture. Yet, the people of Ireland, with a rich heritage and reverence for nature, could never truly lose the knowledge of themselves which the land bestows.

The 20th century has seen many major changes for Ireland, both inward and outward, and in the last decade the green of Ireland has become gold edged. This gem of Europe draws investors and overpriced housing. Ethical questions of ownership again arise as Irish people increasingly feel deprived of the right to home ownership because of high prices. As place becomes commodity we move from consideration of the spiritual wealth of our culture to the all-consuming aspects of material wealth... We come back to question what the land stands for, and closely related to this, what we want our lives to be.....

From 'Holy Ground', an essay contained in Irish Spirit, edited by Patricia Monaghan, published by Wolfhound, 2002. For more information and purchase details see the Irish Spirit website