Shedding Light on Winter Solstice

Today’s date has a very special meaning. In the northern hemisphere, December 21st is celebrated as the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. This ancient turning point invites us to pause and reconnect with the rhythms of nature and the enduring human need for hope in the face of darkness.

Few places on earth celebrate it as beautifully as Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, a prehistoric Irish monument called Brú na Bóinne (The Palace or Mansion of the Boyne). chamber. Constructed around 3200 BC, Newgrange is older than both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. It’s a passage tomb built by Neolithic farmers during the Stone Age, making it one of the most significant prehistoric sites in Europe.

A Celestial Alignment

One of the most famous features of Newgrange is its alignment with the winter solstice. Above the entrance to the long passageway, a small “roof box” allows a single beam of sunlight to penetrate on the morning of the Solstice. As the sun rises higher, this beam travels the length of the passage, illuminating the inner chamber with a breathtaking display of light and shadow. This alignment was likely of great ritual or ceremonial importance to its builders.

This lovely poem by Mary Mills captures the event:

Winter Solstice at Newgrange

Dark retreats before
the calculated caress
of sun’s brightness.

Winter’s hand pulls back
from a small ancient chamber;
light intensifies.

For a few minutes,
brilliance scatters kisses
before light recedes.

The night must return,
and we can draw light into
dark times if we try.

Finding Light in the Darkness

This celestial event mirrors the human experience. As the philosopher Thomas Moore reminds us:

Every human life is made up of the light and the dark, the happy and the sad, the vital and the deadening. How you think about this rhythm of moods makes all the difference.

Moore suggests that our “dark times” offer a valuable opportunity for introspection and renewal – a time to “incubate” the soul and open ourselves to “new and mysterious possibilities.”

The ancient Celts, deeply connected to the natural world, understood this profound truth. In designing this beautiful light show that has been taking place at the same time and date for over 5,000 years they have captured for all time the light of hope that can still shine brilliantly in our darkest hours.