The Devil's Bit Mountain
Ireland is one of the many nations in this world that charms individuals with its views, stories, myths, and so forth. There are different mysteries in Ireland that have still been unsolved to this day. Each person comes up with a different idea to those big questions and some make myths about it. One of those unsolved mysteries that have a myth would be the Devil’s Bit mountain in County Tipperary, Ireland. This mountain range has a small gap and is 478 m high, and the magical legend says that Satan took a bite out of the mountain (Devils Bit). St. Patrick was a Bishop and a Patron Saint to Ireland during the 5th century. He was quite acknowledged. There happened to be one day where the Bishop banished Satan from a cave. Satan got really mad so he took a bite out of the mountain. But, there is a second idea to this myth which is that during that time as well, a young prince named Fionn MacCumhaill was having a serious quarrel with Satan. As Fionn had realized that the devil was losing his temper, he headed off to the mountains, and the devil went after him. While he was chasing Fionn, the Devil stuck his foot against something. Not able to bear the pain and filled with fury, he took a bite of the mountain breaking his teeth. He spat out whatever was in his mouth (including his teeth) forming the Rock of Cashel. These historical sites have been said to be established during the 12th and 13th century. Both these myths give importance to different characters because in the first myth it shows that St. Patrick was the reason for the creation which has a religious significance. In the second myth, it shows that prince Fionn is important and this has a royal significance. Although, both are important to the theme of the Rock of Cashel because this site has been used in various ways both religiously and in a royal manner as well. The idea of St. Patrick causing this does have an essential theme because he was a major Bishop, and the Rock of Cashel was also used as a catholic church and this ties up with the idea of wearing off Evil such as Satan. All of these ideas connected, can form to a conclusion that the myth may be true.
Although many people suggest that the myth of the Devil is the idea behind how the Rock of Cashel was formed, and also the gap between the mountain, it is evident that the structure of the Rock of Cashel was built by the dry stone method. This is a building technique for construction using stones without any mortar to tie them together. During the older times, like the time period during the Rock of Cashel, stone was the essential source for walls and building. The ideology behind the construction using stone are five fundamental rules; the stones should cross the joints so they are set between two rocks, the length of the stone should be perpendicular to the direction of the wall, the wall should be as sturdy as possible, the stones should be aligned so an even plane to the faces of the wall can be achieved, and the last thing is that the stones should be leveled. Even though there is no cement or anything to keep them together, because of the stone they are firm. The structure of the Rock of Cashel shows how all the stones are stacked, and how there is no other kind of material involved in this building other than stone. Some people say that the Rock of Cashel is made from the Devil’s teeth and others say the dry stone method, but such a gigantic building with an organized structure would be hard to make without any human labor. But whatever the theory is, the Rock of Cashel is still an alluring building.
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