Deep inside the world's oldest known building, every year, for only as much as 17 minutes, the sun -- at the exact moment of the winter solstice -- shines directly down a long corridor of stone and illuminates the inner chamber at Newgrange.
Newgrange was built 1,000 years before Stonehenge and also predates the pyramids by more than 500 years.
Lost and forgotten along with the civilization that built it, the site was been rediscovered in 1699. Excavation began in the late 1800s and continued in fits and starts, until it was undertaken in earnest in 1962. It was completed in 1975.
Seen as a tomb, the function of Newgrange in regards to the solstice wasn't known until 1967 -- and then by happenstance acting on a hunch. It was in December of 1967 that the astronomical alignment was witnessed and understood:
Michael O'Kelly drove from his home in Cork to Newgrange. Before the sun came up he was at the tomb, ready to test his theory.Since that time, people from all over the world have made the pilgrimage to Newgrange to bear witness to this ancient ritual begun over 5,000 years ago and only brought back into the light for the last 40.'I was there entirely alone. Not a soul stood even on the road below. When I came into the tomb I knew there was a possibility of seeing the sunrise because the sky had been clear during the morning.'
He was, however, quite unprepared for what followed. As the first rays of the sun appeared above the ridge on the far bank of the River Boyne, a bright shaft of orange light struck directly through the roofbox into the heart of the tomb.
'I was literally astounded. The light began as a thin pencil and widened to a band of about 6 in. There was so much light reflected from the floor that I could walk around inside without a lamp and avoid bumping off the stones. It was so bright I could see the roof 20ft above me.
'I expected to hear a voice, or perhaps feel a cold hand resting on my shoulder, but there was silence. And then, after a few minutes, the shaft of light narrowed as the sun appeared to pass westward across the slit, and total darkness came once more.'
The unknown makers built well. And they built for a very long time:
Five thousand years ago, the people who farmed in the lush pastures of the Boyne Valley hauled 200,000 tons of stone from the river bank a mile away and began to build Newgrange. At the foot of the mound, they set ninety-seven massive kerbstones and carved many of them with intricate patterns. Inside, with 450 slabs, they built a passage leading to a vaulted tomb, and placed a shallow basin of golden stone in each of its three side chambers.
Like so much else from the Age of Myth the "why" of it all at Newgrange will never be known. The people who took 20 years to move 200,000 tons of rock left us no clues beyond the spiraling runes cut into the rock. Like all the mysteries that emerge from time with no footnotes, it is left to us to make what meaning we can from them. But perhaps this one monument from the Age of Myth gives us, every year, one small hint.
No matter what time and the universe can throw at us, we still go on. To remind ourselves that we have and shall endure and prevail, we still mark our small planet's turn around our home star. We mark it with ceremonies every year when, at this moment in time, the sun begins to rise higher to warm us again in our small patch of heaven. And we are still here to bear witness, no matter how shrill the Acolytes of Zero, to the mystery and the gift. We're a tough race and a rough species. It will take more than a few degrees centigrade, one way or another, to finish us.
The light of the solstice pierces to the heart of the tomb at Newgrange, and then, soon after, the Light of World arrives. Two moments that remind us of the many manifest miracles of God. Reminders that no winter is without end and that The Gift is given to us again. If we can but receive it.
Posted by Vanderleun at December 21, 2011 10:20 AM | TrackBack
Gerard,
You are truly a gifted enlightener.
Fascinating. It must have to do with the idea of perhaps warding off the death of the sun, what with its "resurrection" at that very moment when the light streams in and illuminates the sacred center of the universe -- like another fiat lux that recapitulates the original creation in the form of a brand new year. Although I'm guessing that a human sacrifice took place at the point inside where the light struck, just so as to not take any chances.
We moderns don't really have anything that can match this kind of mythopoetic majesty except perhaps David Hasselhoff's slightly menacing phallic Christmas candle, or maybe Yasmine Bleeth's magnificent Hanukkah bush.
Posted by: Gagdad Bob at December 20, 2007 2:12 PMBeautiful comments about the most beautiful time of year.
Merry Christmas.
Posted by: gabrielpicasso at December 20, 2007 2:13 PMI was in there once years ago(in the summer unfortunately) if there is an ancient monument to man's belief in something outside themselves, this place is one of best. It is not to be missed if you ever go to Ireland.
Although it's beyond me how you get 100 people in there, it felt crowded to me with 7 or 8.
Posted by: David McKinnis at December 20, 2007 3:58 PMAs John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Posted by: Christian at December 21, 2007 11:07 AMUpon further consideration, I'm now imagining a sacrificial victim bound at the far end of the corridor, sitting at the inner chamber, surrounded by the priests. The moment arrives when the shaft of light illuminates the victim, which is precisely when the knife plunges into the beating heart. The sun draws through the beam its necessary nourishment to revive and go on for another year, and almost everybody is happy again, human sacrifice being defined as "unanimity minus one."
Posted by: Gagdad Bob at December 21, 2007 3:05 PM
'Cept, Gagdad, the ancient Irish most likely did not employ human sacrifice. We are much too human for that kind of frivolity.
And the place is dry inside. Parchingly, dustily dry under the weight of all of those stones. In one of the most mushily wet places on earth, Ireland. They built for permanence did the ancient Irish.
Newgrange is part of a complex that includes Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne valley.
Could it be that the ancients, by constructing the roof box so as to allow the eternal energy of the cosmos entrance, as well as a way to allow offerings to be placed inside, were attempting to assure the immortality of the inhabitants?
Thanks for the real stimuli as always Gerard
Posted by: Adagny at December 22, 2008 10:43 AMI don't know whether the ancient Irish did or did not practice human sacrifice, but I've been suspecting in recent years that human sacrifice and even cannibalism were widespread in ancient times, perhaps even the norm.
Which is probably why monotheism and the Ten Commandments were such revolutionary developments in human culture.
Posted by: rickl at December 21, 2009 5:57 PMWow! Beautiful writing. And two thoughts it sparked: first, that the light of the world was born a few days after that longed for sliver of light presaging Him and second (yet again) how right Sophocles was about "Wonders are many, yet none so wondrous as Man" (on earth at least). Our family listened ghoulishly to the audiobook about "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, describing how modern buildings would crumble, collapse soon the after humans maintaining them leave them. I liked this reminder of yours that some people knew how to build for permanence. Which led naturally to thoughts of the parable about the man who built his house on rock, as opposed to the shifting sands...Thanks for this.
Posted by: retriever at December 21, 2009 6:07 PMBeautiful.
Have any of you heard about the Georgia Guidestones?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones
Posted by: Mumblix Grumph at December 21, 2009 7:10 PMYes, I've heard of them and even read a bit about them. Odd project. I'd thought to write something about them but couldn't decide if they were hubris or hokum or something else entirely.
Posted by: vanderleun at December 21, 2009 8:59 PM"the ancient Irish most likely did not employ human sacrifice."
That is not what the Romans said.
If this thing aligns with the solstice now, it did not when it was new. The precession of the equinoxes has moved about 40% since then. There would be a considerable shift. Basically, all ancient observatory stories are junk.
If we know so little about these people, how is it we know they were Irish?
Posted by: james wilson at December 22, 2009 9:02 AMIs it possible the ancients believed they could capture the light and seal it into the tomb? Certainly we can appreciate the the significance of the slim light provided but once a year.
Posted by: tonynoboloney at December 22, 2009 9:55 AMRelated: The local Twin Cities PBS affiliate broadcast both episodes of this imported Irish series about 1 week ago.
Episode 1 neo-lithic Ireland
Episode 2 Catholic Ireland
These episodes can be seen in full at the following link.
http://www.rte.ie/tv/secretsofthestones/watch.html
From the web site:
Re-examining, redefining and ultimately rebuilding Ireland's most iconic ancient monuments is the core mission of Secrets of the Stones; decoding Ireland's lost past. In this innovative history strand, each episode will set out to separate myth from truth, find out what really happened and to bring to life Ireland's most visionary and nationally significant sites.
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin at December 22, 2009 2:30 PMI'm not impressed at all. It turns out the ancients moved approx. 200K Tons of LIMESTONE - as almost everyone knows LIMESTONE is a notoriously light building material. Slackers.
Posted by: Daithi at December 22, 2009 4:28 PMIf this thing aligns with the solstice now, it did not when it was new. The precession of the equinoxes has moved about 40% since then. There would be a considerable shift. Basically, all ancient observatory stories are junk.
The precession of the Earth's axis means that it wobbles and describes a circle around the ecliptic pole, which is perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit and stays more or less fixed. This axial precession causes the background stars to change over time, but has no effect on the Earth's orbit around the Sun or the changing seasons.
Modern astronomers take the solar alignments of these ancient structures seriously. If you were correct and these relationships weren't valid when the structures were built, then you would have to explain how and why Neolithic builders built their structures so that only now, thousands of years later, we would see these precise alignments. That would be an even more impressive feat than making the alignments work at the time the structures were built!
Posted by: rickl at December 23, 2009 6:33 PMThe book "Uriel's Machine" / The Ancient Origins of Modern Science
( Chris Knight and Robert Lomas ) has 50 or so pages on Newgrange and even more fascinating accounts of similar structures with what the authors claim were baptismal or birthing spaces for certain infants, conceived and delivered in harmony with the cycle of Venus, which in certain heliacal positions and at certain latitudes will, as the sun is described doing in this article, illuminate the chambers of the stone structure with its supernal light.
James, dna has shown that the people of modern Ireland are not 'celts' (people from central Europe) but overwhelmingly the descendants of neolithic farmers and hunter gatherers,most of whom came up the western seaboard from Iberia. So, essentially, the people who built the stone monuments are direct ancetors.
re: human sacrifice. I believe it did ocur though I've studied more of the British monuments of the period. By the Iron age,it certainly was happening in Ireland--look up bog bodies.the legend of Crom Cruaich,which takes place at a stone circle, may well hold a folk memory of sacrifice:milk,grain and children given to a stone pillar.
re: the alignment.Yes, the earth's axis has shifted but not as much as that. It's the same at Stonehenge; the sun does not and never has risen over the Heelstone; it originally shone between TWO stones.
I think that rereading this piece is a fine way to mark the solstice. Thank you, Gerard.
Posted by: pfsm at December 21, 2011 3:42 PM"And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years" Gen. 1:14
Some do not recognize the true Light even when they are surrounded by it. Another very good effort Mr. Vanderleun. As always, thank you for the inspiration.
If we know so little about these people, how is it we know they were Irish?
dna has shown that the people of modern Ireland are not 'celts' (people from central Europe)
Sounds right to me. Celts were later arrivals, probably at the boundary of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Stonehenge would likely have been built by similar people, and had nothing to do with (Celtic) Druids. You both have probably heard of "Cheddar Man," who even predated Newgrange and Stonehenge. His DNA has been found in some British locals.
Posted by: Don Rodrigo at December 22, 2011 2:12 PMMakes ya wonder about the OldGrange, no?
Posted by: Bill Jones at December 22, 2011 8:03 PM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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