Balor is a key figure in the early myths of Ireland, particularly in relation to the enmity between the Tuatha Dé Danann (the ‘good’ gods) and the Fomorians (the ‘evil’ deities). Balor was a giant cyclops-like king of the Fomorians who could be thought of as a solar deity in its destructive or harmful aspect. His sobriquet or nickname was Balor Bailcbhéimneach, meaning Balor the Strong-Smiting or Balor of the Stout Blows. It is thought his name might originally have meant ‘the flashing one’, which would correspond with the notion of his association with the sun.

He had a single, giant eye in his forehead, which was kept closed most of the time and only opened in battle or in certain pressing situations. The eye was covered by a giant eyelid, and there are varying accounts as to how his eye was opened. One suggests that four men or warriors were required to open it for him. Another tells how his eye was concealed by seven coverings, and depending on how many of these coverings were removed, there would be consequent effects on the vegetation and landscape:

‘With the first covering the bracken began to wither, with the second the grass became copper-coloured, with the third the woods and timber began to heat, with the fourth smoke came from the trees, with the fifth everything around grew red, with the sixth it sparked. With the seventh they were all set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze!’

While Balor is often associated with the north of the country, there is a story that connects him to the Boyne Estuary and the Irish Sea about eight kilometres east of Drogheda which we would like to be the central theme of the new mural.

There was a very famous cow belonging to Goibhniu, the smith of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the good gods), called the Glas Ghoibhneann. ‘No matter how large the vessel used to milk her, she could fill it immediately with rich creamy milk... Balor of the Evil Eye was anxious to get this wonderful cow for himself. He and his servant went to the Mourne Mountains where the Glas Ghoibhneann was grazing with her calf. He got the servant to drive the cow and her calf to the province of Leinster, to Wicklow, where he had his stronghold. He told the man to keep the calf in front all the time so that the cow would not look back and that she would not know that she was leaving the province of Ulster. The servant did as he was told and everything went well until they crossed the River Boyne. Then the servant got careless and allowed the calf to walk behind the cow. Soon after, the cow missed the calf and she looked behind her to see where she had gone. Looking back, she saw the Mourne Mountains far away to the north, and knew that she was very far from her native Ulster, so she gave a terrible scream the like of which was never heard before. Balor heard the roar and he understood there was something wrong. Now Balor had only one eye and that was in the middle of his forehead. When the giant was talking to anyone he had to keep his eye covered. The eye was evil and had the power of turning to stone whatever was seen by it – animals, people and so on. When Balor turned to see what was wrong he forgot to cover the eye and immediately the cow and calf were turned into stones. The two rocks stand today as Balor left them – the cow on the south side and the calf on the north side.’

These rocks are the two islands of Rockabill, located in the Irish Sea about seven kilometres off the coast of Skerries in County Dublin. Near the village of Baltray, overlooking the Boyne Estuary and the Irish Sea, are two standing stones, thought to have been erected there in prehistoric times. One of these stones, the larger of the two, has a broad face and a narrow edge. When you look along its long axis, the stone appears to point to the islands of Rockabill in the distance, some 23.5km away to the southeast.

Around 5,000 years ago, in the Neolithic, when the stones were thought to have been erected, the winter solstice sun viewed from the Baltray standing stones would appear to rise out of the Rockabill islands. It appears as if the story of Balor stealing the magic cow, Glas Ghoibhneann, is a tale describing the movement of the sun along the coast from summer to winter from the Mourne Mountains in the northeast, which are visible from Baltray standing stones, to the two Rockabill Islands in the southeast, where the midwinter sun rises directly behind those islands.

JUSTIFICATION

-Colors: It is thought his name might originally have meant ‘the flashing one’, which would correspond with the notion of his association with the sun.

-Balor: Balor was a giant cyclops-like king of the Fomorians . He had a single, giant eye in his forehead, which was kept closed most of the time and only opened in battle or in certain pressing situations.

-7 eyes:’His eye was concealed by seven coverings, and depending on how many of these coverings were removed, there would be consequent effects on the vegetation and landscape’

-Background vegetation: Consequent effects; ‘With the first covering the bracken began to wither, with the second the grass became copper-coloured, with the third the woods and timber began to heat, with the fourth smoke came from the trees, with the fifth everything around grew red, with the sixth it sparked. With the seventh they were all set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze!’

-Myth: Glas Ghoibhneann and his offspring. And the tower where his daughter Ethniu was locked up.

-Calligraphy: We take the opportunity to tell the myth and some allusions to the place or mural.

-Symbol: Border made with triquetra with all its meanings.

-Mythical Ireland: the two Rockabill Islands, standing stone and t the sunrise.

DRAWDA project

Artworks