No light in sight for solstice watchers

Persistent clouds meant the sun did not manage to break through to light up the chamber in the Newgrange Neolithic tomb for the annual Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice, which takes place from 18th-23rd December, is traditionally celebrated on the 21st December, the shortest day of the year, and some 250 people turned up the ancient site for the celebrations on Sunday, while 20 people actually got inside the chamber. Each year, several lucky people who are drawn from the solstice lottery get the chance to witness the awe-inspiring event, where, on a clear day, a beam of orange light from the sun"s rays pierces the gloom of the dark chamber as the sun rises at dawn. All those who visit the Brú na Bóinne centre can enter the draw by filling in an application form - 50 names were drawn from the 34,000 entries. Brú na Bóinne supervisor guide Leontia Lenehan said there was no sun on Sunday and there were cloudy skies every morning this year. She said people had been hoping to see the sun but that while nobody expressed excitement, they all enjoyed the experience of being there. This year"s lottery winners were from Switzerland, the Netherlands, the USA, the UK and Ireland and they each got a chance to go inside the chamber over the course of the six days. 'To be chosen from 34,000 people is the chance of a lifetime. People were very excited,' said Ms Lenehan. She said that, as far as she could recall, there was no sun in 2000 either and that, most years, there would normally be two to three good mornings where the sun would break through at some time for a certain amount of light to infiltrate the tomb. In the chamber this year was Environment Minister John Gormley, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW Martin Mansergh, as well as the lottery winners, media representatives and two OPW staff members. The OPW broadcast a live webstream from inside the chamber on the Heritage Ireland website on Sunday morning and, between 8am and 9am, there were some 53,000 hits on the website, though the cloudy weather also meant disappointment for them. The website also showed archive footage of the event afterwards, as well as clips from previous years and overall, the website recorded 211,000 hits on Sunday. OPW press officer, George Moir, said they had received emails from people in Australia, Moscow and Brazil saying that, although the sun did not shine, they enjoyed the experience.