If you’ve recovered from the delight of last month’s planetary alignment of Jupiter (Irish: Iúpatar), Mars (Mars), Saturn (Satarn), Venus (Véineas), Uranus (Úránas), and Neptune (Neiptiún), and looking for your next celestial adventure, turn your attention northward to the Plough (An Ceachta) a collection of seven stars that are part of the much bigger constellation of Ursa Major (Big Bear).
The Plough has a long history
American readers might know this familiar seven-star collection as the Big Dipper, but talk to Irish friends and family, young or old, you’ll find they learned the Big Dipper as the Plough.
The Plough in the skies is as handy as ploughing a field as you navigate the night sky; the two stars (Dubhe and Merak) forming front edge of the plough point to the North Star.
As the snow piles finally melts and first primroses emerge (depending on which side of the Atlantic you find yourself), the Plough will rise higher and higher in the Northeast sky after sunset, wheeling silently around the North Star (an Réalta Thuaidh), as if attached by invisible handle.
This familiar seven-star pattern is the "Plough" or “Big Dipper,” depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you stand. The former is more common in Ireland and England; the latter is more common in the United States and Canada. (A. Fujii, ESA/Hubble.)
A traditional horse-drawn plough, familiar to those in rural Ireland through the early 20th century, would evoke the heavenly Plough in the constellation Ursa Major. (Wikimedia.)
The plough is not only an agricultural implement and a name for a grouping of stars — it’s also political, deeply embedded in the Irish struggle for independence and worker's rights.
The "Plough and Stars" or "Starry Plough" (an Céachta agus na Réaltaí) figure in fact, appears on many flags of Irish socialist and republican organizations throughout the 20 th century. This celestial agricultural tool first appeared on the flag of the Irish Citizen Army in 1914 and was flown over the Imperial Hotel during the Easter Rising two years later.
The plough was chosen for its many connections to Irish socialism, independence, and Christianity. James Connolly, leader of the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), whom the British executed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising, declared: "The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars.” The plough thus “symbolized a free Ireland that would control its own destiny by controlling its means of production” — from the tools of the farmer and worker all the way to the stars.
A stylized sculpture of the iconic flag rises behind the martyred leader at his memorial site in Dublin.
The James Connolly memorial statue in Dublin. (Public Domain)
At the edge of the plough (the coulter) is a sword referencing the struggle taking up arms (and tools of their labor) to establish a workers’ republic and a free Ireland.
In 1913, the ICA formed as a workers' military to provide protection from police and employers for striking trade unionists during the violent 1913 Dublin Lockout. More ambiguously, the plough also evokes Christian symbolism: the beating of weapons into ploughshares from Isaiah 2:4, as nations lay down arms and co-exist peacefully.
The Starry Plough (or Plough and Stars) Flag, originally adopted by the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) in 1914, flew over Dublin’s Imperial Hotel during the 1916 Easter Rising. The flag has been adopted by various socialist and republican movements over the 20th century. Note the presence of serrated sword at the leading edge of the plough (“the coulter”). (National Museum of Ireland.)
This history is celebrated in such ballads as " The Starry Plough"
Rise up the starry plough in James Connolly’s name
Rise up the starry plough for his glory and his fame
Symbol of the Irish Labour Party… and more
Today, the Starry Plough is still the symbol of various Irish socialist or republican organizations, including the Irish Labour Party.
Cathal McCann, Political Director of the Labour Party, explained the history and significance of the Starry Plough over e-mail last summer: “This constellation points towards the northern star and has been used for millennia to navigate the way…[ Its] symbolism reflects the guiding principles that have guided the Irish Labour Party for over a century and the journey we are still on to attain a better, fairer, more equal country for all.”
The plough has “particular symbolism due to the rural roots of the Irish Labour Party where we had a strong presence in rural areas,” McCann added.
These roots can be traced right back to the Irish Land and Labour Association (ILLA), founded in the 1890s, which itself grew out of the Tenant Right League.” The Starry Plough became a symbol of the labour movement in 1914 and was readopted as the symbol of the Labour Party in 2021.
Other socialist political organizations, such as the Irish Republican Socialist Party, also continue to use the Starry Plough as their symbol. During funerals of the Irish National Liberation Army, the party’s paramilitary wing , caskets are often draped in the blue Starry Plough flag and the Irish tricolor — including of those who died in the 1981 Hunger Strike at Long Kesh prison, Co Down.
Across the Atlantic
Westward across the Atlantic and just outside the Irish-America metropolis of Boston, stands an Irish pub, one of many in the area. But above the bar hangs something remarkable: a stylized metal sculpture of a plough...and stars.
The pub was founded in the late 1960s by brothers Peter and Padraíg O’Malley , who named the pub in homage to playwright Séan O’Casey and the cause of Irish liberation . O'Casey's critical play, "The Plough and the Stars" was set during the turbulent period of 1916 Rising. (O'Casey had previously served as Secretary of the Irish Citizen Army).
The Plough and Stars is still going strong over 50 years later after hosting attracted an outsized share of luminaries across the political, literary, musical spectrum to its intimate space. Famous visitors who’ve stopped for a whiskey at the literary-themed pub include John Hume, David Mamet, Philip Roth, Van Morrison, and Seamus Heaney. It was also site for a literacy magazine founded there named Ploughshares, evoking the Biblical beating of swords into ploughshare. Co-founder Padraíg O’Malley has committed himself to the cause of peace both in Northern Ireland and around the world.
Leave this neighborhood pub after a pint and burger special and evening of live music, and you may notice the establishment's Starry Plough sign swinging overhead near the door. Linger a moment longer and catch the seven stars of the Plough rising above Massachusetts Avenue wheeling silently higher and higher in the northeast sky as winter slowly melts into spring. The furthest star, Dubhe, in the Plough is 124 light years away. This means the light reaching your eye left that distant star in 1901…before the Eastern Rising and the Starry Plough flag itself.
As the music of the "Plough and the Stars" reel fades behind you as the tavern door finally closes, you’ll be left pondering the words of the character The Covey from O’Casey’s play:
It’s a flag that should only be used when we’re buildin’ th’ barricades to right for a Workers’ Republic!
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