Knowth, Monasterboice, and Tara

Happy Friday!!! I'm happy to report that today was another eventful and meaningful day. However, it started exceedingly early for some of us... Our lovely and CRAZY ball of energy, Janine, inspired a few of us to wake up at 4:45 to watch the sunrise (and some other strange events that can only happen at 4 am...).

After the sun rose and the normal people woke up, we departed for Bru na Boinne where we toured Knowth. There we saw extremely old, large mounds where many people were buried. Its many residents began living there during the Neolithic era, thousands of years ago. From there, different societies moved in and created their own cultural changes that our lovely tour guide presented. After understanding its historical impact, we began to contemplate the transition from Pagan beliefs to Christianity.

Following that, we went to Monasterboice, another high cross, and we spent some time in its cemetery. The cross was the most intact of those we had seen so far. With all of its perfectly drawn out symbols and flawless structure, it was difficult to believe it was from the 10th century!

We finished our day with a tour of the Hill of Tara, another group of burial mounds, with an astounding view and a ton of history. Standing in a place where so many before us had, it was baffling to contemplate our nonchalant reason for being there compared to the sacred/bloodthirsty/all-around-crazy reasons of our predecessors.

After experiencing these three sacred places, we waited for some heavy thoughts to sink in.
The spiritual search for answers and comfort has been around for longer than it is easy to understand, and at times we were surprised by the artful and architectural advances (a lot of a's....) of their “primitive” societies. It's a lot to take in for our immature teenage minds. We're working on it... hopefully we'll have all the answers by the time we get back!

Hope all is well in Atlanta. I definitely have to go to sleep now though- Janine is suggesting a 4 am run... HELP!!!

-Susana