Northwood News ♦ December 2007

President’s Message

By Carole Barth

This fall, my husband Jim and I took a trip to Ireland.  A highlight of the tour was our visit to Knowth and New Grange, two megalithic passage tombs.  Older than Stonehenge or the pyramids, these magnificent structures show incredible sophistication in both design and technical mastery.  Two hundred fifty feet across and 40 feet high, the New Grange mound covers an entire acre.  A passage over 60 feet long leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof nearly 20 feet high.

Without metal tools, large rocks were quarried, carved, and fixed in place without mortar.  Without wheels, exotic rocks were brought from far away.  Without written language, two large edifices were built by several generations.  Without modern scientific instruments, passageway and roof box were precisely aligned so the light of the rising sun at the winter solstice illuminates the chamber.  It’s an incredible expression of human capabilities.

With one exception, all of the carvings at Knowth and New Grange are abstract.  The most famous of these are the triple spirals found in the chamber and on the portal stone.  Of course, we can only guess what meaning these designs had for the people who built and used Knowth/New Grange.  To me, spirals symbolize progress.

Progress often seems elusive.  It’s easy to feel that we’re stuck in the same place, repeating what we’ve done before.  As a community, we keep reconfronting issues such as the fight for North Four Corners Park, concerns about crime, and frustrations with traffic and public transit services.  But the spiral reminds us that each time we come around, we have progressed to a new place.  Even if the issue remains the same, we have gained knowledge and experience that enables us to attack the problem at a deeper level.

So this Solstice time, take a moment to imagine the light show that’s been going on at New Grange for almost 6,000 years.  Reflect on the spiral and appreciate your own progress and the wisdom you have gained.  I wish you great joy in the season and celebrations of the new year to come.   ■