
Christmas and the Winter Solstice
December 21st is the winter solstice in 2024. The image is of Stonehenge at the Winter Solstice in 2007. I’m pretty sure a whole bunch of those people have no idea why they’re there … Cultures throughout the world and throughout history have celebrated the winter solstice, carefully calculating it’s date and time for sunrise and sunset, and aligning standing stones, worship sites, and burials in coordination with the sky. Wikipedia has an excellent catalog of these events: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice “The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. On this date, all places above a latitude of 66.5 degrees Read more…
Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles
The Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles are located in the northwesternmost corner of the isle of Anglesey and include foundations of prehistoric roundhouses and other buildings. When it was occupied, it would have been a sizable agricultural settlement. The hut circles were originally thought to date from the time of the Roman occupation of Wales. Roman coins and pottery have been found here and the huts closely resemble those at Din Lligwy in southeastern Anglesey. More recent excavations, however, have unearthed far older artifacts, including a stone axe, flint arrowheads, and pottery fragments. These finds date to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age periods, indicating that the site was occupied for a much longer period of time.\ About 20 of an estimated 50 original buildings survive, mostly as circular hut foundations. Some huts include traces of internal divisions, storage areas Read more…
Bards and Poets
In Welsh society before the conquest–in all Celtic societies in fact–the bard/poet played a very important role in the life of society. “The three principal endeavors of a Bard: One is to learn and collect sciences. The second is to teach. And the third is to make peace And to put an end to all injury; For to do contrary to these things Is not usual or becoming to a Bard.” ~THE TRIADS OF BRITAIN http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/history.html “In the Celtic cultures, the Bard/Filidh/Ollave was inviolate. He could travel anywhere, say anything, and perform when and where he pleased. The reason for this was, of course, that he was the bearer of news and the carrier of messages, and, if he was harmed, then nobody found out what was happening over the next hill. In addition, he carried the Custom of the Read more…
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