Bóann of Newgrange
This is my new print of Bóann of Newgrange, printed on beautiful heavy Fabriano watercolor paper and finished with a hand painted watercolor cartouche of newgrange I am very proud of this artwork. Newgrange will always have a special place in my heart where my passion for Celtic art and Irish mythology were born.
BÓANN. BRÚ NA BÓINNE
Bóann was the Goddess of Brú na Bóinne, known now as Newgrange. ‘Brú’ means a sacred dwelling place and ‘na Bóinne’ refers to the Boyne river nearby.
Bóann, a water goddess, according to legend was the lover of the Great God, the Gaelic All-Father, known as the Dagda, the dweller of the Brú. He was the father and Bóann was the mother of Aengus Óg.
The name is thought to mean ‘cow white goddess’ -from the Indo-European ‘Bo-Vinda’. She also gave her name to the river Bóinn, or Boyne, in Co. Meath, which runs beside the Brú at Newgrange.
In Ptolemy’s map of Ireland, the Boyne is mentioned as ‘Buvinda’, a reference to the white cow and fertility.
A ninth century tale tells of the mischievious Dagda luring Bóann into his Brú and seducing her with his tall tales and wealth, thus parenting the poet Aengus Óg, their son.
Brú na Bóinne, it is said, was built by the Dagda himself and given possession by him to his son Aengus.
W.B.Yeats was inspired by the tale to pen his beautiful lyric, ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus.’ referring to the Solstice when he wrote of ‘the golden apples of the Sun, the silver apples of the Moon’.
The meaning of symbols
The solar disk behind the figure is a device to acknowledge the beliefs of the ancients in the power of the Sun God to renew and replenish the earth.
The Irish Wolfhound was bred to hunt boar, deer, and wolves. Wolfhounds were the companions of warriors, hunters, and royalty and were housed alongside them. The most famous of all the wolfhounds were Bran and Sceolán, the hounds of Fionn Mac Cumhail, and Luath, the hound of Culainn.
Luath was slain by the youthful Setanta and as a replacement Setanta offered himself; henceforth he was known as Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Chulainn.
With the invasions of Ireland by the English, the Wolfhounds were used by the Irish for warfare and trained to catch armoured knights on horseback, separate them from their horses -and often snap their necks with their huge jaws.
BRÚ NA BÓINNE. NEWGRANGE
Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb was constructed about 5,200 years ago and is, according to Arthur C. Clarke (author ‘2001’), ‘the oldest building in the world’.
The massive mound covers an area of over one acre and is surrounded by 97 kerbstones, some decorated with richly carved megalithic artwork. The inner chamber leads to a large cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof raised dramatically in curved steps to a massive capstone, all engineered without the use of any kind of mortar or binding material.
All told, it is calculated that construction of this monumental Passage Grave would have taken a workforce of over 300 at least 20 years to complete.
The Sun Stands Still
Above the entrance to the passage grave, there is an opening known as a roof-box; its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the passage and chamber at sunrise of the Winter Solstice.
Every winter at solstice time (December 18-23) the passage and main chamber are illuminated by the Winter Solstice sunrise; a dramatic and symbolic shaft of sunlight penetrates the womb of the passage chamber through the roof box over the entrance. This extraordinary and unique event lasts around 15-17 minutes at dawn on the Winter Solstice and for a few mornings before and after the 18-23 December.
A narrow beam of light slowly illuminates the passage floor and gradually reaches the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam intensifies, riding higher and widening within the chamber so that the entire chamber becomes dramatically illuminated. After about 17 minutes the sunbeam leaves the chamber and retreats back down the passage.
Note: Winter Solstice.
The term Solstice literally means ‘the sun stands still’. For a few days the sun appears to stand still in the sky and maintain it’s elevation at noon. This was one of the great Ancient Irish occasions of worship when the Sun God penetrated the womb of the Earth and fertilized the land.
New Discoveries In An Ancient Land
This summer in Ireland and across the UK and Europe was record breaking for heat and drought. This lead to some very unexpected and amazing new discoveries near Brú Na Bóinne, Co. Meath. A new henge was discovered a little smaller than Newgrange and built about 500 years later.
Amazing that we are still learning so much about our ancient past and know so little.
Here are some links on the discoveries: