Macha Mong Ruad and Emain Macha Temple
Once upon a time three kings of Ulster descent ruled Ériu together – Dithorba, Aedh Ruad and Cimbaeth. They swore that none among them should hold the kingship beyond seven years, but should yield it in due course and uphold the law and honour of a rightful king. If any broke the oath, seven druids would lay their unseen fire upon him, seven poets would make a mockery of his name and seven chieftains would rise against him with sword and flame.
When Ruad perished in the water, Macha Mong Ruad was the sole heir to the oath-bound throne. She claimed the throne in her father’s stead, yet Dithorba and Cimbaeth did not accede to her demand, so a war erupted among them.
Macha emerged victorious and sat on the throne for seven years. During that time Dithorba was slain leaving five sons who went after her yet lost and fled into the shadowed lands in Connacht. In time she chose Cimbaeth as her husband and placed him in charge of her warriors.
Once Macha and and Cimbaeth made a permanent pact, she tracked down Dithorba’s sons, disguised as a leprous woman, her body covered in rye dough and red powder. In no time she found them in Bairinn roasting a hog. She was welcomed to their meal by the fire, and one of the men took an interest in her and invited her into a shadow where he set upon her and she overpowered him with her strength. Then the rest suffered the same fate, and she tied them up and carried them to Ulster. The men of Ulster eagerly called for the captives to be put to death. Yet Macha graciously declined and enslaved them to erect a rath around her. She then took the golden brooch from her neck and marked the boundary of what would become Emain Macha.
This painting grew from an exploration of Macha the Red-Haired's legend as preserved in the mediaeval Irish manuscript,
The painting now lives on in many forms 
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