🚀 go-pugleaf

	In my last article, "American Stonehenge", I mentioned a number of
solar alignments occurring at the site in North Salem, New Hampshire without
much analysis. Those are:

	February 1 sunrise
	February 1 sunset
	May 1 sunrise
	May 1 sunset
	August 1 sunrise
	August 1 sunset
	November 1 sunrise
	November 1 sunset

	While it has been argued that these alignments, combined with the
solstices and equinoxes, divide the year into eighths; this argument is rather
weak because a much neater division into eighths could have been accomplished
by picking slightly different dates. Consider the following:

	Date		day of year	difference
	----		-----------	----------
	Feb. 1		32
					49 days
	Mar. 21		81 ---------------------------> (vernal equinox)
					41 days
	May 1		122
					52 days
	Jun. 22		174 --------------------------> (summer solstice)
					40 days
	Aug. 1		214
					53 days
	Sep. 23		267 --------------------------> (autmnal eqinox)
					39 days
	Nov. 1		306
					51 days
	Dec. 22		357 --------------------------> (winter solstice)
					40 days
	Feb. 1

	As you can see, the interval between these dates varies from 39 days
to 53 days. This is not precise enough for a division of the year into eighths
and I'm sure that if they had wanted to divide the year into eighths; they
could have done this with one or two days error at most. The irregularity of
these dates puzzled me and so about a week ago I looked them up on the Celtic
calendar. This is what I found:

	Feb. 1		Imbolc		Feast of goddess Brigit (Brigantia),
					mother goddess, Universal Celtic
					Fertility Day

	May 1		Beltaine	Feast of the god Bel, sun god

	Aug. 1		Lughnasa	Feast of the god Lugh, father god,
					a thirty day agrarian feast with this
					day at its center.

	Nov. 1		Samhain		Beginning of the Celtic year.
					Most important holiday.

	Without a doubt these days are the most important days on the Celtic
calendar and these alignments alone are compelling evidence to identify this
site and any others where these alignments occur as Celtic.

					bonnie!jmm
					J. M. McGhee