Moon Power TV prog to feature Callanish at the total eclipse of the moon

Submitted by vicky on Sunday, 09 November 2003 Page Views: 4367

**Callanish I** submitted by Unknown : Callanish (Vote or comment on this photo)

For 6,000 years the eerie standing stones at Callanish on Lewis have intrigued archaeologists and historians. The monuments, which were erected by Neolithic farming people, are believed to have a special association with the cycle of the moon. A TV programme, to be shown this weekend to coincide with a full moon and also a total eclipse of the moon, will explore the stones’ lunar importance.

Starting at 11:30pm on Saturday, the face of the moon will darken, as the shadow of the Earth passes across its entire lit surface. By 1:18am on Sunday, the moon will reflect no light at all, as the total eclipse blacks it out, a spectacle which will be seen across Britain.

The lunar association with Callanish will be examined in Moon Power, a BBC Natural World programme. The site includes a central circle with four limbs running out in line with the points of the compass. Some of the stones are said to be aligned with the sun and moon at various times of the year and could have been used to predict eclipses and the coming of the seasons.

The programme will feature a simulation of a moonlit event which happens every 18 and a half years at Callanish and which culminates in the appearance of the "Earth Mother", a figure seemingly outlined in the shape of the hills to the south of Callanish. The next event is not due to happen until 2006.

Local people call the image "Sleeping Beauty" in English or "Cailleach na Mointeach" in Gaelic - which translates as "The Old Woman of the Moors".

After rising over the Earth Mother, the moon passes through the Callanish stones two to five hours later. As this happens, if a person stands on the hillock at the higher south end of the site, the moon is "reborn" with a person silhouetted within it.

Moon Power will be shown on Sunday 9 November at 5:25pm on BBC2.

Source: The Scotsman 05/11/2003 For more pictures of Callanish click here .

Note: 5.25pm this afternoon, don't forget!

Contributor Bio for vicky: Ex Megalithic Portal Editor, Co-author of 'Rock Around the Peak - Megalithic Monuments of the Peak District' and... More

<< Iron Age torc is declared treasure

News

6,000 years of Chatsworth history surveyed >>