The Winter Solstice

Caroline Guerin McGrath

From the Tara Foundation Winter magazine of 2007/2008.

At 6:12 UT, 22 December 2007, the sun shone directly over the tropic of Capricorn, marking the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. This event was known as winter solstice, a festival which has inspired significant rituals and celebrations all over the world. This date also coincided with the fortieth anniversary of the discovery of the roofbox at the entrance of Newgrange (Ir. Dún Fhearghusa) by Prof. Michael J. O'Kelly. On winter solstice 1967, for the first time in millenia, the sun illuminated the passageway and chamber, which had been constructed in alignment with the sunrise. The tomb was built around 3300-2900 BC [1], with a commanding view of the surrounding landscape. It was coated with white quartz and elaborately decorated with carved spirals, lozanges and zig-zags.

The site was clearly of preeminent ritual value in ancient Ireland, but its full significance has not fully been uncovered. The symbolism of a shaft of sunlight entering the chamber was surely related to regeneration and fertility. Light in winter was minimal, and solstice heralded a lenthening of days and the oncoming spring. Moreover, winter was a time of privation, and the return of sunshine to this ritually important site must have been of great psychological importance. Nothing is known about the astronomical methods used in the construction of this tomb. Scholars such as Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, have posited that the ancient Irish possessed a sophisticated knowledge of the skies. The knowledge required to make precise calculations in order to build a roofbox which would allow the passageway to be illuminated once a year must have been immense.

Many ancient sites in the Boyne valley and beyond have clear views of the sunrise on Winter Solstice, such as the Hill of Tara. Their position in relation to such astronomical events suggests a cultually and intellectually rich society. They may originally have comprised an astronomical clock or calendar. The entrance to Newgrange points towards another passage tomb at Fourknocks, which in turn points towards the elevation of the star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus. This star marks the position of the sun on the night before Winter Solstice. The mound is part of a complex of sites in the area and is richly decorated with spirals and circles.

The mound at Dowth (Ir. Dubhadh), unlike its counterpart at Newgrange, has two known passageways. However, the south passage marks the Winter Solstice in a reverse manner to the more famous tumulus. Each year at this festival, the sunset illuminates the southern chamber. Like Newgrange, there is elaborate decoration to be found on the stones in Dowth's southern passage. Stones covered in spirals, zig-zags, circles and lozenges are illuminated by the setting sun at Winter Solstice. It has been suggested that these markings represent astronomical imagery, such as the sun, which must have been a significant part of ancient ritual life.

Elsewhere, in the village of Baltray, near the mouth of the Boyne, there are two standing stones (of three original) at a site known in Irish mythology, hagiography and Dindshenchus as Inbher Colptha [2]. They are aligned and face the easterly islands of Rockabill, so that on Winter Solstice, the sun rises over the islands. They are believed to date from c. 2000 BC. [3] This alignment was calculated in 1999 by local journalist Anthony Murphy, in conjunction with artist Richard Moore and photographer Michael Byrne.

At Arda Mór (Ardamore), near Dingle, Co. Kerry there is a site called Log na nGallán where there are four stones. On Winter Solstice, these stones are aligned with the setting sun. Like many Irish standing stones, they are covered with carvings, which were undoubtedly linked with their complex ritual function. The stone circle at Drombeg (An Drom Beag) near Skibbereen in Cork consists of 13 (of 17 original) sandstone pillars and measures 30 feet in diameter. The midpoint of the circle faces the sunrise on Winter Solstice. The sun shines through a notch in the distant hills and is oriented by a pair of recumbent stones outside the circle.

This year's winter solstice sunrise illuminated a changed and threatened landscape. The recent handover of Lismullen Henge to the private construction company which is contracted to build the M3 motorway heralds the destruction of part of a complex and interconnected landscape. This landscape has not been inadequately excavated and its archaeological value is ill-understood. This is part of a government policy which endangers all of these sites of enormous historic and cultural value.

[1] E. Grogan, "Prehistoric and Early Historic Cultural Change at Brugh na Bóinne", Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 91C, 1991, pp. 126-132

[2] J. H. Todd (ed. and tr.), Leabhar Breathnach annso sis: The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, 1848, 247, § 49

[3] Victor M. Buckley and P. David Sweetman, Archaeological Survey of Co. Louth, Dublin: Government Publications, 1991

© The Tara Foundation, 2008