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LAST UPDATE | 21 Dec 2021
Tuesday 21st December - Happy Solstice.
— Heritage Ireland (@heritageireland) December 21, 2021
Welcome to day two of our live stream of the Winter Solstice from Newgrange. The countdown is on, so hopefully the clouds will clear and there will be light. We are live on https://t.co/7SgN1iBpXO.
Enjoy wherever you are watching from. pic.twitter.com/c4pxib6Ni3
CROWDS OF PEOPLE gathered at Newgrange in Co Meath today to watch the winter solstice at the neolithic monument.
However, overcast conditions meant the view was not as bright as hoped at the 5,200-year-old passage tomb.
For the second year year in a row, members of the public were not admitted to the chamber itself due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The solstice sunrise event was live-streamed from within the chamber, and a playback video can be viewed here. Another live broadcast will happen from the site tomorrow morning.
The winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon that marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice happens on 21 or 22 December.
We are Live pic.twitter.com/7H5GswXxR4
— Brú na Bóinne - Newgrange and Knowth (@newgrangeknowth) December 21, 2021
Sadly, the glorious sun (here's one I prepared earlier) did not shine down the Newgrange passage this morning, but a Happy Winter Solstice to all! After this afternoon, the days lengthen again. (tbf, Zoom meetings make them long enough, winter or no winter...) pic.twitter.com/E7Rafblooh
— Dr Wendy Morrison (@Hillfortian) December 21, 2021
At sunrise on the shortest day of the year, for 17 minutes, direct sunlight can enter the Newgrange monument through the specially contrived small opening above the entrance known as the ‘roof box’ to illuminate the chamber.
“I understand the disappointment of the public with the closure of the chamber, especially at this significant time of the year, but we have to be mindful of the Government guidelines in relation to Covid-19 and the health and safety of our visitors at all times,” Patrick O’Donovan, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, said ahead of today’s event.
Really delighted to be here at Newgrange this morning on the winter’s solstice- the shortest day of the year.
— Thomas Byrne (@ThomasByrneTD) December 21, 2021
The interior tomb, as designed by the ancients, lights up at dawn on the solstice when the sun is shining. An ancient mystery right here in Meath East @UNESCO pic.twitter.com/uOW2VzMHJG
The Department of Housing had asked that members of the public to not travel directly to the site, as there are road closures in place around Newgrange itself.
While the tomb chamber has remained closed during the pandemic, the National Monuments Service and the OPW have been able to expand their archaeological research programme and gather further information on the winter solstice phenomenon over the month of December.
The research project is measuring and monitoring in great detail the movement of the winter sunlight coming through the roof box into the passage and chamber to determine how the beam of dawn light interplays with the chamber as we move towards the solstice and then past it.
With reporting by Órla Ryan
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Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. We can be proud of great buildings like this built by our ancestors. Not the others built by invaders.
@Munster1: slightly over simplistic view seeing as the builders ancestors came from elsewhere and wiped out (or at least contributed too) the previous occupants. Everybody comes from somewhere else…!
@Munster1: Yet they still prefer to ignore our own ancient civilisations when it comes to Junior Cycle history.
@Munster1: Many of the people living in Ireland today have no direct connection with those who built Newgrange and are likely descended from the ‘invaders’ who came afterwards. You may not be descended from the Newgrange builders and it would be quite difficult to prove that you are. So to say ‘our ancestors’ is inaccurate and misleading.
@Munster1: Who counts as ancestors? Who count as invaders in your book? I for one will always campaign for the recognition that our rightful and peaceful Bell-beaker ancestors, lived in Ireland fruitfully for 2500 years before the savage Celtic culture invaded from central Europe, with their pernicious and dangerous Iron mongering. Don’t even get me started on the Vikings. Bloody barbarians.
@William Tallon: Probably more likely we have descended from both natives and invaders. Sure we’re all related to Alexander The Great
@Munster1: As Newgrange is preCeltic its builders would have been pushed aside by the Irish speaking Celts invading from overseas.
@Munster1: Well you know are very earliest ancestors are from Africa, right? so if you’re going to go back that far, may as well go the whole hog.
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Hopefully sorted out within the next hour….
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: You have to accept cookies for it to work. Depending on what browser you are using, it will be different to turn them on if you refused them in the past. Easiest way might be to install a new browser and accept all cookies.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: if you accepted the cookies and it still doesn’t work, just close the app and try again. Should work. Did for me. Hope you get to see it!
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: if this link doesn’t work just Google winter solstice 2021 and go in that way. https://www.gov.ie/en/news/ce616-winter-solstice-at-newgrange-2021/
Does anyone know the beautiful piece of piano music before it went live from about 5 minutes before it went on air ? It’s beautiful
A great opportunity to showcase 5,000 years of Irish history wasted. Boring! Public Works needs a bit of work. Lots of great raw material. Awful leadership.
@Neil Neart: really? Oh I don’t know about that – The lighting, the sound, the visual effects, the music, costumes and product quality was all… I think I’ve probably done better myself on the grandkids tiktoks or what have you! A shame really, obvious they’ve got zero budget for it, they should’ve pumped money at this while everyone is still online and then when people are allowed go create a bit more of a buzz around it!
I was just about to stab my ear drums with the butter knife due to that tiresome hold music! These lads could do with a bit of showbiz and production help
Great to see all the hippies out for the sun rise. I’ll bet the sun turned up on time, as it has done for billions of years previously. Wouldn’t it be great if some year the sun said: ‘feck this, I’m going to sleep in today’?
River dance?
Saved to Watch Later. After I accidentally clicked on the ad and watched the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections without seeing a single petroglyph :-)
have your say