Solstice Blitzkrieg. The turning of the year.

Solstice Blitzkrieg

The megalithic tomb of Newgrange has an alignment with the rising sun on the Winter Solstice on 21st December. When the sun rises over Red Mountain in Donore a shaft of light enters the doorway and lights up the chamber 19 metres down the stone passage in the bowels of the huge earthen mound. It’s the oldest roofed building in the world – older than the pyramids - and it’s within walking distance of my house!

This year I rejoined a solstice tradition that dates back 26 years for us modern day solstice seekers and 5,000 years for my ancestors here in the Boyne Valley.

Myself and a handful of other devotees make a day of the Solstice (we call it the Solstice Blitz), starting at Newgrange and visiting other ancient sites in the Boyne Valley during the day – soaking up the magic of sharing the shortest day with the spirits of our ancestors who built these amazing structures. It’s a spiritual experience to see the golden rays of sun creep down the passage in Newgrange. We are sharing the happiness of the ancient astronomers who would have stood in our exact footprints - happy in the knowledge that the longest night is past and the days will now lengthen to Spring and new life in the world.

We started this tradition in 1981 when we walked to Newgrange from Drogheda after a party in town. We met at the park at 4am and, despite someone falling in the canal, got to Newgrange at 6. The sun doesn’t come up til 9 so by 8am the alcohol (and our good spirits) were beginning to wear off. The officials arrived and wouldn’t let us in so we climbed over the fence. The Irish Times declared that Newgrange had been “invaded by cultists” but the next year (and every year after that) allcomers are invited onto the site to witness the sunrise (only the chosen few actually get in to the chamber).

This year there was a live webcast of the phenomenon. It was ok to have the big video screen onsite but the the live ‘commentary” broadcast on a PA broke the magical silence that the sunrise demands. The sound of the rooks in the nearby trees is the same sound that our ancestors heard 5,000 years ago. This year the rooks were silenced and the amplified ‘rhubarb rhubarb ‘ of commentator babble took its place. A bad swap.

After breakfast in Slane we headed over to Tara where the the Irish government in its wisdom has decided to build the M3 motorway within honking distance of the ancient seat of the Irish high kings. We enjoyed the stillness of Skryne – because we won’t have it much longer.

Then it was back to Dowth for the sunset and join the rest of the Blitzers for the end of a magical day.

The year has turned. Bring on Spring.