How the Heavens Go

Write about the longest day of the year, or a day that never seems to end.

How the Heavens Go 

On June 21^st the summer solstice is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere. In Ireland, the sun will rise at 4.47 am and set at 21.57, and we will have 17 hours of daylight. In the early sixteenth century, Copernicus, the Polish astronomer created a stir when he claimed that the earth was not static but in fact it orbited around the sun. Prior to that, people believed Ptolemy, who declared that the earth was at the centre of the universe and that the planets and sun revolved around it.

In the early seventeenth century, Galileo, an Italian astronomer built a telescope with the aim of studying the heavens. He made some amazing discoveries. For example, he learnt that the moon’s surface was not flat but contained many craters. He also made some interesting discoveries about Jupiter and its orbiting moons. This research all culminated in his discovery that the earth was not as Copernicus had pointed out, the centre of the universe. 

However, his discovery set him at odds with the Catholic Church. The Church felt that Galileo’s discovery undermined the much cherished view that the earth was created by God and was placed at the centre of the universe. The Church were adherents of the geocentric model, which purported that the earth was at the centre of the universe. To even suggest that the earth was not the centre of the universe was practically heresy. Poor Galileo was ordered by the Catholic Church to renounce his theory and the Inquisition threatened to torture him. He in fact recanted rather than facing horrendous torment. 

Galileo was too far ahead of his time. Even though he recanted, he was still punished by being placed under house arrest in his villa at Arcetri, near Florence until his death in in 1642. 

When we stand on the earth, we have the impression that the earth is stable, but the fact is, that it is spinning on its axis every 24 hours and it takes exactly 365 days for it to rotate around the Sun each year and this is why we have summer and winter, a summer solstice, a winter solstice, a spring equinox, an autumn equinox. 

So Copernicus was right and Galileo was right.  We live in a heliocentric universe. It was not a question of science winning or religion losing.  It was really about mankind having a better understanding of the workings of the universe. Galileo argued that he was not being heretical and the fact that the universe was heliocentric did not contravene the Catholic Church’s teaching. He claimed that his research explained ‘how the heavens go’ and that the Church taught ‘how to go heaven’. 

In Celtic mythology the battle between light and dark, between summer and winter and was represented in the form of an Oak King and a Holly King. The Oak King ruled the summer and the Holly King ruled the winter. The Oak King reached the height of his powers on 21^st June but his powers were diminished after that date. So everything in nature has an underlying balance— after the longest day, the daylight begins to lessen a little every day. On the 21^st December the Holly King reaches the height of his powers and it is the shortest day of the year. Neither King can win, because it would mean that either the earth would be in perpetual light or perpetual darkness. 

The Summer Solstice was seen as an important time in the year and the Celtic people would pray that there would be a good harvest. The crops were only halfway through the growing season and they needed the correct amount of light and warmth in order to flourish. 

The ancient Celts were familiar with the seasonal changes and they conceptualised the seasons as a Wheel and when it turned, they responded by ploughing, sowing and eventually harvesting the crops in the autumn. They were in tune with the cycles of nature and understood that maximum light would eventually give way to maximum darkness. 

There were also pagan rituals to banish evil spirits and many bonfires were lit to ward off these evil spirits. Gráinne was their sun goddess and she had to be invoked for nurturing the plants. The ancient Celtic people knew the importance of light and their rituals reflect this. They did not used terminology like summer solstice or winter solstice but they were aware of these key events throughout the year and they marked them with festivals and singing and dancing. 

They lived in harmony with nature and they also celebrated the spring and the autumn equinox which took place on the 21st of March and the 21st of September. 

The Celts also celebrated four important festivals on top of the solstices and equinoxes. Samhain was celebrated on the 31st of October, Imbolc on February 1, Bealtaine on the 1st of May and finally Lughnasadh on the 1st of August

There is a prehistoric monument which contains a passage tomb in County Meath called New Grange.  During the winter solstice the rising sun shines through the ‘roofbox’ and illuminates the floor of the main chamber. It predates Stonehenge and the Pyramids and has been described as ‘the oldest astronomically orientated structure in the world’. 

Some healers see the solstices in terms of yin and yang, or feminine and masculine energies. Yin s associated with the dark and yang with light. The Summer Solstice is charged with yang energy and we are advised to tune into these yang/fire energies but not to overdo it.

In her poem ‘Summer Solstice’ Rose Styron describes how suddenly the lawns and paths are so green and there is a cornucopia of flowers at this time:

Suddenly,

there's nothing to do

and too much—

the lawn, paths, woods

were never so green

white blossoms of every

size and shape—hydrangea,

Chinese dogwood, mock orange

spill their glistening—

A Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty wrote about the Winter Solstice:

It’s the Winter solstice, so here I am, stuck at Handan’s postal stop

Grabbing my knees, before the fire, my shadow beside me, is all I got

Missing you, needing you, wanting to be home, sitting with you, late this night

You too should, should be thinking of this faraway traveller.