Hi

I found this statement in the web page, concerning the Mound of Hostages:

"The passage at the Mound of the Hostages is short, and is aligned on the cross-quarter days of November 8 and February 4, the ancient Celtic festivals of Samhain and Imbolc"

Now, in my understanding these celebrations are held on October 31 and February 1 respectively, the dates cited are the old dates for these celebrrations? Are the dates changed because of the precession of Equinoxes? And finally, does the alignment exist on these dates today or was supposed to exist 5000 years ago?

The old cross-quarter festivals divided the year into eighths. Between every Solstice and Equinox or vice versa there is a cross quarter day. The calendar runs like this:

Winter Solstice
February X-Quarter (Imbolc)
Spring Equinox
May X-Quarter (Bealtaine)
Summer Solstice
August X-Quarter (Lughnasa)
Autumn Equinox
November X-Quarter (Samhain)
and back to Winter Solstice

Back in the Stone Age, the cross-quarters were worked out as being a half-way point, measured in days, between the solstice and the equinox. I think that's why the dates are so quoted. Take for an example Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. Count the number of days between them, half it, and what do you get? - October 31st or November 8th. The dates are given according to Martin Brennan's reckoning (The Stones of Time - see the books page - link "suggested reading" on the home page).

The alignments put down in the Stone Age continue to function today. Obliquity of the ecliptic has shifted the solstice sunrise and sunset positions by about a degree (two sun-widths) but many of the stone passages which are still intact are still functioning.

The old cross-quarter festivals divided the year into eighths. Between every Solstice and Equinox or vice versa there is a cross quarter day. The calendar runs like this:

Winter Solstice
February X-Quarter (Imbolc)
Spring Equinox
May X-Quarter (Bealtaine)
Summer Solstice
August X-Quarter (Lughnasa)
Autumn Equinox
November X-Quarter (Samhain)
and back to Winter Solstice

Back in the Stone Age, the cross-quarters were worked out as being a half-way point, measured in days, between the solstice and the equinox. I think that's why the dates are so quoted. Take for an example Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice. Count the number of days between them, half it, and what do you get? - October 31st or November 8th. The dates are given according to Martin Brennan's reckoning (The Stones of Time - see the books page - link "suggested reading" on the home page).

The alignments put down in the Stone Age continue to function today. Obliquity of the ecliptic has shifted the solstice sunrise and sunset positions by about a degree (two sun-widths) but many of the stone passages which are still intact are still functioning.