It was a howler of a day here going up the mountain today.
I would be in a state without yer man Jack Wolfskin!
Today is my Christmas and Hogmanay combined.
The creeping darkness of November is challenging for me.
Indeed, the winter cold is something I actually welcome.
Instead, it is the lack of daylight that gets to me.
The brood got me a lightbox, and it has been put to good use in the study this winter.
So today is a special day and has been celebrated on this little island for a long, long time.
The featured image is the central passage at Newgrange.
It is older than the pyramids of Giza and proves that my farming ancestors here had precise knowledge of the seasons and the movement of the sun.
I did some Third Wave type family research thanks to the Big Fella.
Rather than looking through parish records, it was a cheek swab for the pair of us.
We did this when he was a science guy at Trinity.
The R1b DNA marker we both have means that our roots in Contae Mhaigh Eo go back to this time.
Undoubtedly, the people who worked the Ceide Fields would have celebrated on this day.
In a few days, outside of Midnight Mass across this island, devout Catholics will wish each other a happy winter solstice as Gaeilge!
December is the month of midwinter.
Something that is observably real and of great importance to civilisations which are based on agriculture.
The days will get longer now, even though initially, there isn’t any visible change on my daily hike.
However, I know it is so and that matters to me.
Dear reader, as the official mid-winter binge approaches, I hope you are well and with the people you care about.
Time to begin again.
I will be back here next week with a review of the year.
Until then, stay well.
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The 21st December was always a big deal in our household, mostly predicated on my wee Ma’s aversion to the dark days of winter. An aversion, that i’m afraid i have inherited. Every year, on this date, without fail she would state “the days get lighter now” it was a standing joke in the family. It is a thing though, those long dark days can get to me, and the change, although not that discernible does hit a switch mentally. Thanks for all you do Phil, and all the very best to you and yours….cheers John
I know of people who suffer from this lack of light, I thank my lucky stars I’m not one.
Rest well all, have a relaxing break, and enjoy the vagaries of Scottish fitba.
Nollaig shona! Merry Christmas everyone!
I worked offshore for a number of years. One year I was up near the Magnus, just about as far north on the rigs as you can go. As the 21st of December came round, you could see the darkness getting earlier every day. The thing that I most noticed was the returning of lighter days, on the couple of days after the 21st, it was really apparent that the hours of daylight were getting longer. The builders at Newgrange didn’t need to build the monument to tell them that the days were getting longer. That they did build that amazing structure tells us that they knew there was something greater than humans kind with Barrow tombs and computers and vaccines all trying to make sense of the world around us.
Happy Christmas to you and your family Phil.
From a Scotsman with 8 Irish Great Grandparents.
Thanks for all the articles Phil, very much appreciated.
Merry Christmas Phil & Family
god bless to you Phil and you family from a scots branch off an Irish tree
Our shortest day has come
Merry Christmas
Every day is a school day Phil… Thanks for this informative article.
May you and your family have a warm and peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
Noilleag Chroidle gu huile duine as annEirann!