From Death to Life

Today we went to New Grange, in the Boyne (which means "white bull") Valley.

Background Information: New Grange is the largest passage tomb in the WORLD! It was built in 3,000 B.C. which makes it neolithic (or new stone age).  The point of a passage tomb was to bring the cremated bodies of the dead in and, during the winter solstice, since the entry way was perfectly alligned, the sun would come in and take the souls of the dead with it.  The sun was worshiped in ancient culture.  The kerb stone at the entrance to the tomb has what would be deemed a traditional celtic pattern of spirals.  Don't be so easily fooled though, the spirals shouldn't be considered only celtic! The spirals represent the passage to the earth (death) and then back out again to life.

So, okay, we get to New Grange, have some lunch and take these buses out to the site itself. It really is huge!!! It looks like a large grassy hill with white stone around the edges. We were able to go inside the tightly packed space and experience what it would have been like on the winter solstice; the lights were turned off so you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face and an artificial light was used to mimic the sun. Very cool. Literally and metaphorically because stone is really cold! All these darn castles and stone sites are like freezers!

We also went to Knowth, another large passage tomb. 

Overall....excellent!!! It is amazing to see these ancient structures that survived from 3,000 BC and to imagine the ancient celts using them.