Winter Solstice 2023

Na Dhia daoibh, a chara,

Gabh mo leis sceal. Tá tamall ann ó scríbh mé aon rud ar bith go deireanach, nach ea. Tá mé gnothach mar deanaim a lán scannán beaga. Last year (2022), I had a great opportunity to witness the sunset of Grianstad an Gheimhridh at the linear orthostadts of ‘Na Séisear’ at Beenalagh in north county Cork. The sky couldn’t have been anymore perfect. Earlier, I walked my little girl to school and was mesmerized by the colours surrounding the rising sun that morning. To be honest, did I need to be at a passage tomb or liagcoircal to enjoy the moment? Just being there to witness its majesty regardless of location was enough for me that morning. Síd an Brúg or since the arrival of the Cistercian monastics in the 11^th Century CE, Newgrange will make both national and international news on the day as with any year. There will be an annual pilgrimage by many and the lucky few whose name is drawn will get to witness the event from inside. Hopefully, the day will come when my name is drawn and I get to witness the event within the sacred chamber.

The month of December is known as Nollaig as gaeilge and also Oíche Nollaig means Christmas eve and Lá Nollaig is Christmas day. The thing is that both meanings are not originally seangaedhilic or has any true Irish roots. It was originally the Irish medieval word notlaic which was borrowed from the Latin natalicia which means birth feast. Now the Christian bible does not tell us when their Christ was born and since the Winter Solstice is a symbol of the birth of the light of the new year, it made sense for the Christian hierarchy to declare their saviours birth at the same time using the same symbology. According to the former Julian calendar, the Solstice was on the 25^th of December but after the introduction of the Gregorian Calander, it now occurs between the 20^th to the 22^nd roughly. They kept the 25th for their ‘Birth’ celebratations and pushed away from the heathen ‘Birth of the Sun’. Winter Solstice is an astronomical phenomenon marking the shortest day and longest night of the year and it occurs when one of the Earth’s poles on its maximum slant away from the sun and it happens twice in each hemisphere at the peak of winter and summer. Both the Solstices, the seasons, and the changing length of daylight hours throughout the year are all due to one fact; Earth spins on a tilted axis. The sun travels like a sine wave across the sky over the course of the year sometimes farther South or farther north. When the sun is 23.5° S in latitude and directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, on and around December 21st, the winter solstice takes place. At its farthest southerly point, having moved slowly since last June, the sun stops for approximately 3 days before it starts to slowly creep back north again. During this time there was a peak moment, appointed time, of the solstice. In 2023, this will occur on Friday at 3.27am GMT on the 22nd of December.

In many traditions, winter solstice, arson known as midwinter and/ are the festival of yule, is it time for ritual and celebration. In a sense, this was a turning point in ‘the battle of dark versus light’ in the world. On the small island of Ireland, our ancestors who constructed Newgrange did not see the Winter Solstice as an adversarial event, but instead, a turning point in which reverence of the vital energies of darkness and lightness are understood, honoured and celebrated. When we embrace this perspective in our personal lives, we can claim reward and peace in our lives too.

Every year many still gather at Newgrange on Winter Solstice morning and while the chosen few who have won the lottery will be inside at sunrise, hundreds will have gathered to sing and dance or simply stand in awe as, if permitted by the Irish weather skies are clear, the golden orb of the sun peaks above ‘Red Hill’. Those in the ancient burial chamber, if lucky, may witness the sunlight travelling through the light box up the ancient passage, penetrating the darkness at the centre of this stunning architectural monument. That this still occurs 5000 years after Newgrange was first constructed is in itself and an enthralling phenomenon.

At the shortest day of the year here in Ireland, we will only have less than 8 hours of daylight and so the day will be spent mostly in darkness. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, stop, like the sun and celebrate the hope in your heart as we now know that summer is on its way. So from all of us here at Order of Celtic Wolves and Na Mhac Tir a hÉiru, Grianstad Ghreimhridh shónadh daoibh go léir.

Go raibh maith agat do chuid ama,

Le meas,

Seán Ó Tuama.