“Its ancientness inscrutable and daunting and moving” – Under the Sign of the Moon by Tessa Hadley
Its ancientness inscrutable and daunting and moving
“Its ancientness inscrutable and daunting and moving” – Under the Sign of the Moon by Tessa Hadley
I love this text.
Great picture, too. It makes me think of druid rocks in England, and menhirs in Bretagne….of special rocks, and sacred places.
And thinking of ancientness and things ancient, it reminds me of something Carlo Levi once wrote –
“The future has an ancient heart.” :-)
This is indeed a megalithic site dating back to the Bronze Age – most certainly of astronomical purposes. It’s the Parc la Mutta in Falera, Switzerland – I didn’t find any English documentation, though :-(
Short stories are usually very easy for me. Since everything is so compressed sentence after sentence seems quote worthy ;-)
We may have figured out that these megalithic sites are astronomical observatories, but we are unaware of the meaning of the observations to the builders of these sites. They surely provided dates as a kind of calendar, and this knowledge gave the ancient astronomers great power, probably magical powers. Many people still feel that the movement of planets and stars determines their fate and destiny. “Hey baby, what’s your sign?” was an often heard celestial mating call of young, horny males. But we don’t know about meaning and ritual in the Bronze age. This is a terrific photo and another perfect quote.
Thank you very much!
Magic and astrology and all the rest are definitely not my cup of tea.
I can’t imagine what would have happened if someone ever started with “What’s your sign?” … grin.
So I didn’t feel any magical power – but of course in many parts of the Alps the tourism offices try to lure people with “magical places” “powerful spots” and blabla.
Fortunately not at this place