Touching the precious golden light as it pays homage to our ancestors on the winter solstice at Newgrange. At dawn on the morning of December 21/22 every year just after 9am the sun begins to rise over the hill known locally as the Red Mountain. At precisely four and a half minutes past nine, the light from the rising sun strikes the front of the huge mound and enters the passageway through the roof box which captures the sun’s rays.
Newgrange is a giant megalithic tomb and one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Europe. It is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and a thousand years older than Stonehenge in England. Built around 5000 years ago it is one of a group of 40 passage tombs in the immediate vicinity including Knowth and Dowth which are enclosed on three sides by the river Boyne. Newgrange also predates the arrival of Celtic culture in Ireland. The Celts placed more emphasis on cross quarter days like Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and Lughnasadh than the winter solstice as these days marked the beginning of each season.
Lasting 14 minutes, a beam of sunlight travels up the sloped passageway and on into the central chamber illuminating the rear stone of the central recess of the chamber. The slope in the floor is to make sure that the sun light strikes the chamber at exactly the right time. No one knows for sure what was being celebrated but the presence of human bone has led many archaeologists to assume that it was a burial tomb or a tomb where the remains of high status individuals were interred to be venerated by the living. Others argue that due to the scarcity of human material found that the remains could have been dragged in by wild animals and as most of the remains were animal bones it is unsafe to assume that it was a burial chamber.
The solstice marks mid-winter and from it can be calculated the start of spring which is knowledge vital to survival in northern lands with short growing seasons and food can be rationed accordingly.
Whatever was being celebrated the experience was as magical then as it is now.
Newgrange is a giant megalithic tomb and one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Europe. It is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and a thousand years older than Stonehenge in England. Built around 5000 years ago it is one of a group of 40 passage tombs in the immediate vicinity including Knowth and Dowth which are enclosed on three sides by the river Boyne. Newgrange also predates the arrival of Celtic culture in Ireland. The Celts placed more emphasis on cross quarter days like Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and Lughnasadh than the winter solstice as these days marked the beginning of each season.
Lasting 14 minutes, a beam of sunlight travels up the sloped passageway and on into the central chamber illuminating the rear stone of the central recess of the chamber. The slope in the floor is to make sure that the sun light strikes the chamber at exactly the right time. No one knows for sure what was being celebrated but the presence of human bone has led many archaeologists to assume that it was a burial tomb or a tomb where the remains of high status individuals were interred to be venerated by the living. Others argue that due to the scarcity of human material found that the remains could have been dragged in by wild animals and as most of the remains were animal bones it is unsafe to assume that it was a burial chamber.
The solstice marks mid-winter and from it can be calculated the start of spring which is knowledge vital to survival in northern lands with short growing seasons and food can be rationed accordingly.
Whatever was being celebrated the experience was as magical then as it is now.
No comments:
Post a Comment