An original calendar-driven event
My personal calendar had two events to observe, today. First, and of local importance, was my transfer of the recycling bags to the road. Once a month, if I feel the need. Today, I did my best to make sure the pile stayed in one place until the bin truck came by; the driver did have to go ditch diving, but that’s probably listed on the “necessary tasks list” for the profession. I’m now good for another thirty days.
The other event came with a heavier tradition. This is “winter solstice”, in the Northern hemisphere. The days will groww longer for the next six months, and thine… suffice to say it’s a cyclic thing. But, as a detail, I arose, before dawn, to watch the feed from Newgrange, Ireland. Once a year, for five milleiia, a small tunnel in the juge burial mound gets illuminated at sunrise. If the availablesun shines; this is Ireland, and like our local conditions, wishing and hoping for sunshine has no causal effect.
Over there, the gray mist didn’t lift. Not this year, not last (old broadcasts are available). But, the talking heads did their best to explain the history of the site, as we know it. We can say, with certainty, that the tome was erceted at least five thousan years ago. Written records are wishful thinking, but we have tradition. I also learned about how the stones were brought in from elsewhere, and a local farher offered the hint that the larger ones were lubricated for pushing with copious amonts of seaweed. There, we all learned something.
Now, the math required to calculate the exact angle of the sun’s rays on a given date are complex; I went to Google. And from some of the other video excerpts, the whole affair works.
I do wonder how the builders of the mound (think, larger than a hockey arena) handled cloudy weather on the initial presentation. Perhaps someone was tasked twith announcing “oh well, come back next year.”
