3 mysterious places to travel, where you can see the incredibly beautiful solstice
How to observe the winter solstice as our ancestors did more than 5000 years ago? Honoring this day is an ancient tradition, perhaps even the oldest of all. For people who lived thousands of years ago in Britain, it was a celebration of the return of light after several months of darkness. The solstice on the shortest day and the longest night of the year was seen as a harbinger of renewal and hope. What travel spots are worth a visit to observe this phenomenon?
People of the past built massive and mysterious structures with passages for the light from the sun. Want to repeat the ritual a few millennia later? Then on December 22, go to three mysterious places in the UK.
● Newgrange (Newgrange)
Newgrange was built in Ireland in 3200 BC. This is a high mound (more than 13 m) in the middle of a field in the Boyne Valley (Meath County). The mound itself is a network of tunnels and corridors. He has a so-called “roof”, made up of stones above the entrance. In the winter solstice, in the first light, the sun sends a ray of light through a hole in the “roof”. The light gradually moves along the aisle and moves into the central chamber. When the sun fully rises, the whole camera is lit. Such an event occurs only on this winter day. Most likely, it was for this purpose that Newgrange was erected in Neolithic times.
Access to this megalithic attraction is allowed every year, but as part of a lottery held by the Brú na Boyne Visitor Center. Applications can be sent by regular mail or dropped in a special mailbox. Only 50 lucky ones are selected, whose applications are drawn by local schoolchildren.
However, if you don’t win the lottery, you can still enter Newgrange in groups of 15–20 people after sunrise, when the light is no longer flowing into the passage. You will enter the central chamber and be in absolute darkness under a high dome. The effect of being inside will carry you through the millennia, and you will feel as if time has stopped.
● Maeshowe
Meishau is a Neolithic stone burial of the corridor type on the largest island of the Orkney archipelago (Scotland), built in 2800 BC. This is a grass-covered hill a little over 7 m high. These travel destinations — Meishau and Newgrange — are labyrinths of aisles and chambers that are illuminated by sunlight during the winter solstice, or rather, the sun shines exactly at the entrance. Here reigns the atmosphere of ancient mystery and some almost alien mysteries. What led people to this cold island to build such a monument? What did the creators want to say and express?
Meishau’s interior is made of huge stones with symmetrical rectangular holes throughout. The entire structure plan is very detailed and seems to remind people of death and life. The winter solstice is the end and the turning point. After it, the sun begins its six-month journey to the summer solstice.
● Stonehenge
Representing Stonehenge does not make sense. This is a well-known 5000-year-old massive stone circle, established on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire (England). Until now, no one can understand how the builders raised columns of giant stones and laid other stones on them. We really do not know anything about the purpose of Stonehenge, although some believe that astronomy or tracking the cyclical nature of the seasons played a role here.
It was found that the smaller stones that form the inner ring were taken from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, at a distance of more than 320 km. They say that the energy and strength of Merlin himself lives in these stones! Stonehenge is carefully aligned with the line of sight, indicating the sunset at the winter solstice. The sun’s rays fall on two large stones: the central Altar stone and the Slaughter Stone.
Tourists from around the world traditionally gather around Stonehenge on the day of the winter solstice. By the way, after a long period of restoration and restoration, the fallen stones returned to their places in the ground again – so now Stonehenge has returned to its original state, like several thousand years ago.
These 3 mysterious structures are the best places to travel to see the winter solstice, like our ancestors, as well as immerse yourself in the atmosphere of ancient secrets.
