By Sean Fagan
Sitting before a simple campfire can be a great way to imaginatively connect to the first Hunters & Gatherers - to a people that regarded campfires as central to their very existence (Photo: Sean Fagan).
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I would like to wish everybody a happy WINTER SOLSTICE…
I love this day – not only is it a pivotal turning point in the year when the days start to slowly lengthen - but it’s also culturally important - especially in the distant past.
In Ireland - the winter solstice was of great significance to the first farmers – the Neolithic People, and was undoubtedly used (among other uses) as a dependable calendar of sorts to mark the slow transition from the lean months of winter towards the abundance of spring.
The solstice was probably of great importance to the people that preceded the Neolithic people – the Mesolithic people...
The hunting & gathering Mesolithic people were the first people of Ireland and survived in small tribes amidst the deep shade of the far-reaching primeval woods that carpeted most of Ireland throughout that era.
They were in effect – Ireland’s first Bushcrafters.
And that is why I recommend you take a walk in the woods – light a small fire... ...let the darkness of the encroaching nightfall envelop you – then, maybe offer a small “Thank you” to our first ancestors. It doesn’t have to be tonight – any night will do, during any time of the year. I believe we owe so much to the amazing achievements of our first ancestors. To live a precarious hunting & gathering existence in a post-glacial, forested landscape where many threats abounded - is something akin to epic. Anyway, happy solstice and may 2017 bring you many small and grand adventures.
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