A large crowd gathered in front of the ancient Celtic passage tomb at Newgrange on Saturday morning to greet the winter solstice.
“They say it was the biggest crowd here in the last 20 years,” said one woman, as she walked arm-in-arm with her companion across the ankle-high grass in front of the great monument.
Those who made their way to Newgrange were not disappointed, with brilliant sunshine breaking through the brightening clouds at nine minutes past nine o’clock. It illuminated the passageway and inner chamber of the Stone Age tomb, as it has done on the winter solstice for thousands of years.
“There’s the sun coming up now, my God,” said Tony Redmond (75), who lives close by in Duleek.
“I’m only over that hill,” he said, as he nodded southwards beyond the river Boyne which flows briskly by a few fields away.
Redmond was at the solstice with his imposing Irish wolfhound, Saidhb. “She is a nine year-old bitch, I bring her here every year, there’s been wolfhounds here for as long as anyone can remember,” he said. He is also vice president of the Irish Wolfhound Club of Ireland.
For Redmond, December 21st at Newgrange is a very special day. “There is a fabulous atmosphere here today, it’s amazing the amount of people who have come up to me, people from outside the country,” he said.
Also there to witness the winter solstice was Tom King or “An Gobha”, the blacksmith of the Boyne Valley. King, who is a design engineer by trade, explained how he became involved in the promotion of all things Celtic. “During the pandemic I put up jewellery online, I now have products available for sale in countries such as New Zealand,” he said.
The winter solstice represents a turning in the year, according to King: “It’s an awakening, there is a shift in the pattern of the year. Tomorrow evening you will hear people saying, ‘there is a great stretch in the evening’. From now until February you will notice that stretch in the evening,” he said.
[ As it happened: Watch the winter solstice at NewgrangeOpens in new window ]
Retired RTÉ broadcaster Aengus Mac Grianna, who lives about 16km away from Newgrange, in Co Meath, also joined the hundreds of people to witness the sunrise on the shortest day of the year.
“I absolutely love Newgrange, and Knowth and Dowth. Coming here today on the winter solstice is always magical, just even to be outside and to feel that energy from everyone, to watch the sun come over that hill is absolutely magical,” he said.
Trained Irish Celtic shaman , Leisha Redmond McGrath (46), from Dublin, said that Newgrange is a sacred site and that the winter solstice is a sacred day. “When we look at the Celtic wheel, there are eight points we celebrate, our ancestors knew that this is an auspicious time,” she said.
The interplay between dark and light is important both at this time of year and in the Celtic tradition, according to McGrath. “All life begins in darkness, when you think of the seed in the belly, the seed in the ground,” she said.
As the sun continued on its brilliant but brief arc across the bright morning sky, the crowds began to drift towards the awaiting shuttle buses, no doubt bringing with them that seed of optimism that pervades the winter solstice at Newgrange.
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