Topic awaiting preservation: Watching the Turning

Did you notice the Winter Solstice 20th/21st December? It tends to be drowned out by Chris Cringle and his chums.
A couple of years ago I wanted to travel to Newgrange monument, Ireland to witness the event. I wistfully imagined staying at a countryside B and B, getting up before dawn and watching the sunrise with a few others, probably hikers or "new agers".
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the only way one could gain entrance on the Winter Solstice is by lottery!
Aunty Beeb has a facinating audio programme called A Light In Winter I think it is about half an hour long and the editor has left about 2 minutes of the preceeding news on before it kicks in. If you stick with it and can spare the time I think you might like the story.

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The winter solstice celebration at Newgrange monument, Ireland, is an awe-inspiring event that has taken place annually for more than 5000 years. As the sun's rays clear the horizon on the shortest day of the year, they illuminate, in perfect alignment, a 19-metre passage and chamber which contains the remains of our long dead ancestors.

The chamber is older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids and Trevor Barnes has gained rare access to the event to experience it for himself - joining the handful of people who are selected by lottery from more than 25,000 applicants.

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The pagan side of me is also interested in the Solstice Science but I'm sure you are aware of this already.

::tao:::: ::cell::

"taken place annually for more than 5000 years"
...that sounds off in a few ways. The age of the structure really puts things in perspective, though. I wonder how much was restored and how much was relatively intact.

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I wonder how much was restored and how much was relatively intact

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I'm trying to check that out myself too reisio. If/when I do I'll post back here.
There are certain places for me where the presence of the past is palpable, this is one of them. Time seems to take on a different perspective.
You become a dot on the landscape.
Brighter earlier,
and soon the Blackbird will resume his beautiful song.

::tao:::: ::cell::

Just found this from here.

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Unfortunately, the Knowth fiasco is not an isolated case. The restoration of Newgrange itself, although very impressive with the reconstruction of its white quartz façade, involved a major alteration of the architecture of the entrance to the building, in order to maximise the number of tourist dollars from the hundreds of visitors who enter the passage every day. The major megalithic complex at Carrowmore in Co. Sligo is also subject to vandalism by Dúchas, which started "reconstruction" work in late 2000 to increase its revenue potential. This complex, which features 60 passage mounds (the largest concentration of such monuments in the world) has been radio-carbon dated by Professor Goran Burenhult of Stockholm University to 5,400 BCE, placing it two millennia earlier than the Boyne Valley complex, well into the Mesolithic era. According to an article published in the Irish Times on 15 February 2000:

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Apparently it was "repaired", and not to the satisfaction of those who cared.

GD

Thanks Grythus exactly the thing I was looking for. You come up trumps again my friend
I'll have to spend a bit more time reading, but it looks as bad as we feared.

I'm more curious if the general form as a whole was basically intact. It's lame to alter a doorway for tourism, but it's only a small part of the whole.

...and 5400, wow.

It is stupid I agree reisio. I'm hoping that there is still some solid archeology beneth the tourist facade for future generations to study.
You know, just walking to the place is a walk through time. There are little stone markers scattered along the roads telling the distance to some long forgotten villages and family homes. Some of these have gorgeous designs carved into them. Sorry I did not have a camera when I was there last.
On a slightly different note I was delighted to find a word.
Oftentimes, when relating to friends and folk how a little sadness enters my life everytime the blackbird ceases it's beautiful song for the year, or how the Damselfly is a week late rising. I can see that my enthusiam can be viewed as a bit of an oddity. I don't mind this at all really but sometimes it is nice to be able to share information like this with like minded people.
Enter the new (for me) word. Phenology
So, your friendly neibourhood Tao is now the newest member of the UK Phenology Network
By the way, the Blackbird is due to resume his song around February, at least here in the north of England he is.
I am trying to get a little equipment together so I can record the various blackbird songs in the area. I am hoping a friend of mine, Jake, who did the sound recording for Steve Leonards great TV programme Animal Extremes, can give me a few tips. One of the reasons I am doing this is to try to document the process involved for the Blackbird to learn its song. Each male listens to the song of the other and if it likes what it hears, it tends to incorporate that particular cadence into its own longer song.
It's Jazz baby, and that's the truth.

::tao:::: ::cell::

[doh] its, it's, it is, farce going on here. I think I have corrected them all. Anyone know for sure if the full stop, question mark or exclaimation mark are placed inside quotation marks or outside? as in "he said who"? "he said who?" I tend to go for the former, but I just can't remember if this is the correct form. Cheers [/doh]

(Edited by Tao on 12-23-2005 16:46)

It depends upon context, and what you're quoting. If you're quoting someone who said "he said who" and asking if that was what they said, then it would be outside. If they said "he said who?" and you're not asking for clarification, then it would be inside. A quotation mark can be the ending point of a sentence, if a sentence ending mark (such as a quetion mark, exclaimation mark or full stop) has already come inside it.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

Thanks Skaarjj, that makes sense
Tao