About Newgrange

The Neolithic site at Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland, built around 3350 B.C.E., is a temple dedicated to the sun of winter, more specifically the sun of the mid winter solstice.  Because one must pass through a long, narrow tunnel to reach the inner chamber, Newgrange has been called a passage tomb.

The site is built into a mound whose rounded façade was once covered almost entirely with white quartz and could be seen for miles. Many of the green gritstones that were used to border the base of the mound were engraved with spirals, triple spirals, concentric circles and the many variations of the triangle.

The tunnel, burrowing through the mound is lined with large stone slabs and leads to a cross shaped, triple chambered interior.  Encompassing the site, was once a large stone circle which served to hedge it off from the vast stretches of land that surround it, indicating sacred space.  The most astounding feature of Newgrange, however, is perceived only once per annual cycle.

Above the entryway lintel is a small square window, through which at the exact moment of midwinter sunrise, light passes. The yellow rays of energy stretch though the narrow tunnel and illuminate the dark, inner chamber exposing a magnificent corbelled ceiling and stones bearing etchings mirroring the ones on the exterior.

The winter solstice is the time when the sun’s light is least present, yet it is also the time that it begins to make its slow return.  Early people understood and honored this phenomenon.

Sources:

Gimbutas, Marija, The Civilization of the Goddess, HarperCollins, New York, 1991.

Streep, Peg, Sanctuaries of the Goddess, Little, Brown & Co, Boston, 1994.

Heinberg, Richard, Celebrate the Solstice, Quest Books, Wheaton, IL  1993.