Night of Eire

Saturday, March 16 ,2024

7:00 – 8:30 p.m. 

A  planetarium program commemorating the old spirit of St. Patrick’s Day

While the upper world convulses with the tumult of St, Patrick’s Day revelers, the Southworth Planetarium will commemorate the holiday with a more elegiac and celestial observance:  an event that blends the ancient Irish elements of stones, stories and stars.    This program represents an amalgam of stone circles; celestial mythology; and Irish legends.     Our stone circle scholar, Lawrence Price, will guide you through some of Ireland‘s most exquisitely beautiful and storied stone circles: such as Lough Crew, the witch’s hill; and the Hill of Tara, which has witnessed the coronations of 142 ancient Irish kings. Also, the colossal Newgrange, designed to capture the solstice sunrise and, astonishingly, the moon cycles.

Experience Michele’s Cheung’s tales from Eire: an ancient world pervaded by sorcery and mysticism.  Sagas and songs from an island of story tellers.

We then turn our star projector westward: admiring the old Irish constellations:  Laoch Caithete Saighead, the “Hero of the thrown arrows,” or the river goddess Boann,    We conclude our evening under the heavens: to admire the sky of the ancients.

Though the night of St. Patrick’s Day eve promises to be furious and frenetic on Portland’s surface  we summon you down into the shadowy underworld to immerse yourself in the spirit and magic of ancient Ireland.

Admission by donation:  (suggested donation   $7-10).