Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I visited the film locations for Miss Austen Regrets. Tina reviewed the short story collection So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan. Marianne reviewed a lesser-known Charles Dickens novel, Barnaby Rudge.

Happy Groundhog Day! It turns out that’s an American and Canadian thing. I enjoyed this 2023 article from the Independent, a UK publication, explaining the roots and practices of Groundhog Day to British readers. The article points out that there are European roots for the tradition, which coincides with the Christian observance of Candlemas.

By Anthony Quintano from Mount Laurel, United States – Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day 2022 Pennsylvania, CC BY 2.0, Link

Another correlation for Groundhog Day is with Imbolc, the Gaelic marker of the time that is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Depending on the tradition, Imbolc is marked on February 1st or on the calculated halfway point. Since this is a Leap Year, that point is more like February 4 in 2024.

We all know that there are ancient sites around the world that align with the sun on the equinoxes or solstices. Here is a list of six of those sites compiled by the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Did you know that there is at least one site in Ireland that aligns with the sun on Imbolc? The Mound of Hostages is a passage tomb built in the same style as Newgrange, but rather than aligning with the winter solstice, it aligns with the sun about six weeks later. Half a year later, the sun aligns a second time at Samhain (around Halloween).

By August Schwerdfeger – CC BY 4.0, Link

According to the information on the site A Trip to Ireland, you can simply walk up to the Mound of Hostages and watch this alignment happen. The entrance is gated, but the path of the sun will still be visible on the ground beyond the gates. Unfortunately, the weather is likely to be gray and rainy in that location today and over the weekend, so it’s probably not worth a last-minute effort to fly over for the event.

The Mound of Hostages is part of a larger complex known as Hill of Tara that has several ancient monuments and an amazing history.

The Discover Boyne Valley Hill of Tara page explains the history and includes a lovely audio snippet from a driving tour of the area.

The Heritage Ireland Hill of Tara page displays gorgeous photos of the area, including this one that shows the Mound of Hostages (with the gate removed) on the day of the sun’s alignment.

How will you observe Imbolc or Groundhog Day? I like to revisit my goals from the New Year to bolster up my resolve and the structural supports — because I’ve usually discovered some giant holes in the plans by a month into the year.

This is completely unrelated, but I really enjoyed this half-hour with my favorite London-based YouTuber, taking a one-day tour of the city. I thought you might get a kick out of it, too.