Taillten Fair

The Taillten Fair was an annual event held on Lughnasadh, aka Lammas Eve, (August 1st) in County Meath Ireland. It was the custom for couples to contract "year and a day" trial marriages at the fair. "Taillten marriages" were legal up until the 13th century.

This practice is documented in the fourth and fifth volumes of the Brehon law texts, which are compilations of the opinions and judgements of the Brehon class of Druids (in this case, Irish). The texts as a whole deal with a copious amount of detail for the Insular Celts. [O'Donovan, J., O'Curry, E., Hancock, W. N., O'Mahony, T., Richey, A. G., Hennessy, W. M., & Atkinson, R. (eds.) (2000). "Ancient laws of Ireland, published under direction of the Commissioners for Publishing the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland." Buffalo, New York: W.S. Hein. ISBN 1-57588-572-7. (Originally published: Dublin: A. Thom, 1865-1901. Alternatively known as "Hiberniae leges et institutiones antiquae".)]

ee also

*Handfasting
*Tailtiu

ources

Lewis Spence, "The History and Origins of Druidism" & Elizabeth Pepper and John Wilcock, "Magical and Mystical Sites"