The natural cycles behind Christmas

The gathering that celebrated the winter solstice at Newgrange this week was an illustration of the
pre-Christian foundations behind the festival of Christmas, writes Science Editor DICK AHLSTROM

THE FACT that Christmas occurs within days of the winter solstice is no accident. The mid-winter Yuletide celebrations mirror those of our ancient ancestors, who more than 5,200 years ago gathered together outside the passage grave at Newgrange to celebrate the turning of the year. Both celebrations signal momentous occurrences of importance to the societies that participated in them. The Christian tradition celebrates the birth of Christ, while Newgrange in Co Meath was built to pinpoint the shortest day of the year.

“All religions ultimately go back to natural cycles,” says Prof Gabriel Cooney of University College Dublin.

A festival enjoyed by our Neolithic ancestors persisted, passing through Roman traditions and on to Christianity, he says. “Christmas was specifically tied to the winter solstice. The key point that Newgrange does is mark the turning point of the year.”

He has no doubt that the solstice certainly carried “religious significance” for those who attended and for those select few allowed to enter the passage grave to witness the moment when the first rays of the rising solstice sun penetrate deep into the hillside to illuminate the rear wall.

“I don’t think people were coerced to go to Newgrange,” says Prof Cooney, professor of Celtic archaeology and head of the school of archaeology at UCD. People wanted to be there, they wanted to participate, he believes.

At the time the local population near Newgrange might have numbered 1,000. They grew crops and reared stock and were wholly dependent on the fertility of the land. “The winter and summer solstices and the equinoxes were key turning points in the year,” Prof Cooney says.

It is unlikely, however, that the people living close to Newgrange could have built it themselves. It would have demanded a much larger social engagement and people from much further afield to assemble the thousands of tonnes of soil and rock needed to build the huge structure.

There is ample evidence that its construction would have relied on “social capital”, the mobilisation of people pursuing a common goal for the good of society, Prof Cooney says.

It is seen in the selection and transport of some of the building materials used at Newgrange. The grave’s structural stones are greywacke, which geologists believe could have come from Clogherhead.

These stones would probably have been transported by sea to the mouth of the Boyne from where they would have been dragged up river to the Newgrange site, Prof Cooney says. Huge effort would have been required, demanding the involvement of large numbers of people in a joint enterprise.

The white quartz facing stones were also transported over some distance. “The best evidence is they came from Wicklow,” again demanding considerable effort.

There were also siltstone, granite cobbles and granodiorite from around the Mourne Mountains and Carlingford. All of those who participated would have become a part of the project and would have wanted to attend events there.

“Religions play a significant part in the way people understood the world. Religions are about answering the big questions,” he says.

For this reason people living in Meath 5,200 years ago accepted this expenditure of energy and time as of benefit to the wider community.

Ireland’s passage grave assemblage at Dowth, Knowth and Newgrange represents some of the finest examples of these structures anywhere in Europe.

They have also been found in Wales, the Isle of Man and in “Atlantic Europe”, Prof Cooney says. Orkney has passage graves and one, Maes Howe, is aligned to sunset on the evening of the winter solstice.

So while the reasons for celebrating the season may vary over time, the winter solstice represents an important focal point that has retained its importance over the millennia.

Guide to the Passage Tombs at Brú na Bóinnewas released at Newgrange on Tuesday, the day of the winter solstice. Wordwell Ltd published the guide in conjunction with the OPW. It costs €5 at the Brú na Bóinne centre or directly from wordwellbooks.com