that's right, did you know that ireland is known as the island of saints and scholars? cause i found that out about a million times over yesterday. but more on that later.
as my time in dublin draws to a close, which is very sad mind you, i've been thinking about what i have left to do. the answer is a whole lot. there is far too much to do in this country to do in 4 months. or 4 years for that matter. but, in spite of all that, i felt i did an awful lot, and a good amount for the time i was here, including one senior thesis play to boot.
actually, i had my first reading last wednesday, which went very well, thanks to many of the delightful actor-types here in our program. now i get to take the show back to oregon, revise once again, and put it on one more time at good ole WU. (anyone want to direct? let me know) so, that's done.
now all that was left, besides buying all the souvineers that ireland has to offer (i'm almost done, i think), is one final jaunt out of dublin before it's off to the airport after many goodbyes and goodbye pints. we decided to ham it up a bit, and play the tourist, and so mary kate, logan and i headed on a day tour up to newgrange and the hill of tara. what are those, you ask? i'm so glad you did, let me tell you.
newgrange is a really cool tomb/astronimical observatory/what have you from the neolithic period. it is the oldest astronomical observatory in europe or something like that. basically it comes from a time we know very little about, and people we know even less about. so, what it actually is, is a mystery, although there are many theories. here is a picture, and then i will explain more...
so this is the front of the monument. now, not all of this is absolutely authentic from the time period. the wooden steps are an obvious addition. also, the dark rocks were added there for support, so it wouldn't collapse and they could allow tourists and stuff inside. so that's forgivable. the white rocks are mostly quartz, and they are a matter of some debate. see, the major excavation of newgrange was back in the 1960s when professor O'Kelly began doing it. he found these quartz rocks scattered around the outside of the walls, and thought that maybe they were on the walls at one point. he experimentally put them up, and it worked. they didn't stay long, however, and soon slid and fell down. however, they fell basically the same way he found them originally, so this he took as confirmation and put them back up, this time to stay. this is a topic of huge debate, because there are many engineering types who think this is not how they would be. oh well. they look good. anyway, if you'll notice, there are two doors. one big one, and one smaller one directly above it. this is what the monument was for. this particular monment is lined up directly for the winter solstice (dec 21). there are other monuments for summer solstice and the equinoxes. so what happens is when the sun comes over the ridge on the winter solstice, the rays go directly into that upper door, and all the way through the tunnel to light up the inside. pretty darn cool. they used this in some sort of ritual, and they are pretty sure it was used in conjunction with the ashes of their dead, as if returning them to the sun/earth or something like that. this is why it is sometimes thought to be a tomb, but there isn't proof that they kept the ashes in there, or if they just brought them in for ceremony. anyway, it's cool. and yes, you can go in on the solstice to see this phenomenon, but there is a lottery, and a waiting list that is literally years long. so good luck. the other cool thing about newgrange, which you can kind of see in the picture is the carvings on the rock in front. here is a close up of this particular rock.
now, there are designs like this all around the monument, but nobody knows what they mean. there are about as many theories as there are people to present them, but some of the big ones include psychotropic drugs, and ancient mathematical systems. all are valid though, so make up your own and call it good. Logan figured aliens.
and now we'll take a little detour to talk about the trip in between. our tour guide on the trip was hilarious. she sounded like she knew what she was talking about, in a way, but more like she had read a few books and stretched what she had read as much as she could. she kept talking in circles, and making all these contradictions to what we heard elsewhere, including on the newgrange tour. very humurous. by the end we could recite along with her what she was saying. such as "this was ireland's golden age. this is when young people would come from all over europe to study at the great irish monastaries. this is why ireland was known as the island of saints and scholars." see, told ya. it was hilarious. so, now i could give the tour if i wanted to. plus she could stand to brush up her info on the celtic druidic system.
anyway, our second stop was the hill of tara. but first a little background. in the ancient irish feudal system, there were kings (eg, king of munster, king of leinster, etc), and then the one high king above them. they would meet and discuss the countries issues and stuff. so, the hill of tara was where the high king held court, and where he was crowned. so pretty important stuff. it just so happens, by the by, that one of the ancient kings of leinster (the east of ireland, where dublin is) was dermot macmurrough, which then became mcmorrow in the us, and then became morrow. so there ya go, i'm royalty. anyway, here is the hill...
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src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1318/1496/320/Hill%20of%20Tara.jpg" border="0" alt="" />most of these divets and tracks and stuff were man made, used for shelter, ceremony, court and whatnot. there was this big mound called the mound of hostages, from the top of which you can see 28 or ireland's 32 counties. that's pretty cool. i took a 360 degree picture, but it's too big to put on here, so you'll have to specially request it. if you want it. this is where they crowned the actual kings though...
so there it is. yeah. i don't know exactly what it is, but it was kind of the focus point of the hill. also on the hill was a really cool gothic looking church with dead trees all around filled with ravens. very edgar allen poe. anyway, we also looked about this old book store for a long time and found a lot of very expensive books. nothing very interesting though. then we went home and collapsed for the rest of the day. we did have to get up early for the tour anyhow.
so that was my last jaunt out of dublin. it is now sunday, and i leave friday morning. crazy. so, since i may or may not have time/take the effort to relate my boring last week packing and whatnot on here, if you don't hear anything from me again, it's because i'm back in the states, and i'll probably be contacting you in person. it's been a great trip, and there's still lots left to do when i come back.
until then,
cheers,
scott
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