Newgrange at Winter Solstice

[Howard Brown]

The CAS Forum probably heard of this from GWW (Granny Weather Witch) a few years back in the old CAS Forum. Below is an extract from the Newgrange website

http://www.newgrange.com/

but the image did not copy.

Winter Solstice
Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the winter solstice sun. Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is a opening called a roof-box. This baffling orifice held a great surprise for those who unearthed it. Its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21st, the winter solstice. At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the chamber.

As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am. The accuracy of Newgrange as a time-telling device is remarkable when one considers that it was built 500 years before the Great Pyramids and more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge.

The intent of the Stone Age farmers who build Newgrange was undoubtedly to mark the beginning of the new year. In addition, it may have served as a powerful symbol of the victory of life over death.

Each year the winter solstice event attracts much attention at Newgrange. Many gather at the ancient tomb to wait for dawn, as people did 5,000 years ago. So great is the demand to be one of the few inside the chamber during the solstice that there is a free annual lottery (application forms are available at the Visitor Centre). Unfortunately, as with many Irish events that depend upon sunshine, if the skies are overcast, there is not much to be seen. Yet all agree that it is an extraordinary feeling to wait in the darkness, as people did so long ago, for the longest night of the year to end.

[Laurence Green]

Hi Hygge

Your posting about the Winter solstice prompts me to post this onward.  Although not directly related to your posting it has some linkage but more akin to Spring time.

You, and others, may be interested in this concerning Martin’s Hole, in Elm, Switzerland.

A unique phenomena:-

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/martinsloch-the-sunny-window.html

Best wishes and a very Happy Christmas to you and all CAS members!

Laurence

 

 

 

 

[Howard Brown]

Fascinating, Laurence, thank you. And a Happy New Year to you et al.

P.S. Elm reminds of the Helm wind in Cumbria, UK which has gone quiet since Anita brought it up on the CAS Old Forum. I’ll make a new year resolution to try and dig it out one day next year.

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