Brú na Bóinne

The Boyne River Valley in County Meath is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site of megalithic passage tombs, dating back to the Stone Age and Neolithic people. Newgrange is the largest and only accessible site in as many as 40 in the Bend of the Boyne, as it is called, and may have been a place for ancestors, or house of the spirits. Ireland is home to nearly 1500 such sites, most of them small and properly untouched in farmland, as the Irish people are either superstitious or respectful, or both, of such sacred sites. Cremation was the norm of the day, and the ashes, bones and remains were placed inside. There is a comfortableness in being uncertain of many of the anthropological details, as Viking marauders would have plundered many sacred sites, as well as anyone else who may have come and scratched their names into the inner chamber since the rediscovery at the turn of the 17th century. What does remain is a roof box that allows sunlight to enter the passage tomb, larger enough only for a dozen adults to inhabit comfortably, with a 25 foot entrance, for about 20 minutes during the Winter Solstice week.

The connected tri-spirals are similar to other historical symbols, but unique on the entrance stone and several other spots here because of the connected and unending line.