December is the month during which we experience the Winter Solstice, a major even in many ancient cultures--the Ancient Irish are no different. Known as the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21^st, and marks the halfway point between summer and spring. Located in the Boyne Valley, Ireland, is Newgrange, and at 5,200 years old, it is older than the Pyramids at Giza. A product of the stone age, scientists are still baffled on how tightly the structure was created, for not a single drop of water, in thousands of years of Ireland’s infamously precipitous weather, has found its way into the chamber. The quartz around the outside of the structure is an interpretation by scholars, and not a definite representation.

Each year, the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre allow access to a select group of people. You may enter the structure and witness how the sunlight illuminates the otherwise dark chambers on the solstice, and only on the solstice. A lottery in September determines who are the lucky ones, yet when we were there, the guide joked it’s really a double lottery: the first is the drawing to gain access, and the second is whether or not it will be too cloudy to experience the illumination!

As you might have guessed, as a purveyor of gifts and jewelry celebrating Irish culture and history, we have products which help you show off your love of all things Irish, like Newgrange!

If you are planning a trip to Ireland next December, enter your name in their lottery here.

We highly recommend tours of the Boyne Valley with Mary Gibbons tours.  Sites include Newgrange, Hill of Tara and more!

Frank and I in front!                The Entrance to the Structure

Click the images below to shop for Newgrange related products!