Frank Cawley
Drombeg Stone Circle.
By Frank Cawley
Dec 22, 2006, 14:18

Drombeg Stone Circle is one of the best examples of a unique collection of stone circles were built in the southwest of Ireland between 2000 and 500 years before the first Christmas.

The sun sets between the portal stones and on top of the axial stone of the circle on the same day as the earth tilts away from the sun for 182 days, i.e. the shortest day of the year in Ireland, the shortest night in South Africa.  This is the theory; tragically I've never seen it in practise.

I believe this is why the Christmas festival is on the 25th of December each year, in the old days before sat nav it probably took them 3 days to spot the stretch in the evenings.  They say you can notice a longer “gatch” in the step of a cider drinker after Dec 21st.  It’s as if their body clocks can sense the birth of a new year, and the pleasant thoughts of the summer sun to come.

This is what should happen on Dec 21st, I've been in Drombeg for the last 6 years and I havn't seen it yet.

The Holy Pagen flower of Holly left as a sarcrifice so the Gods will look kindly on hippys in 2007, there isn't a lot of Holly left in Ireland, I'm sure if the Holly becomes extinct, the hippies won't be long far behind.

There are 17 stones in Drombeg so I’m guessing they might have had 17 months every 365 days in them days. The circle was excavated by a local Farmer E Fahey in 1957. He found the remains of a young fella covered by an upside down vase in the middle of the circle. Obviously some lachecos was trying to mess up the calendar, maybe moving the December stones a little forward, so he would finish school early, the punishment for messing with clocks in those days wasn’t good.

The crowds gathered but the sun didn't appear.

You can see the clear skys over the atlantic in the background but Dombeg didn't fair as well. Maybe in 2007.

© Copyright 2003 by www.castlebar.ie and the author