…wintering out / the back end of a bad year…
-‘Servant Boy’ Seamus Heaney
The Stones of Stenness are a central part of the heart of Neolithic Orkney. Together with the Ring of Brodgar and the Stone-Age villages of the Ness of Brodgar, Skara Brae and Maeshowe they form a UNESCO World Heritage site. Orkney folklore claims the Stones of Stenness go for a wee drink in the Loch of Harray on Hogmanay*. Anyone who wishes to eavesdrop on the lithic revelry will be unaccountably detained. The tale attributes the stones privacy to old magic. While only four stones survive today, excavations & historical accounts reveal there were once twelve. On a calm winter day, the Loch of Harray is a mirror reflecting Stenness in a silvered plane. Perhaps the four stones go to this watery veil between worlds to meet their missing brethren reflected back to them in the still waters, two-fold.
On Hogmanay almost everyone on the Mainland seems to be at the Ba anyway. For weeks the buildings all around town have been barricaded in preparation for this wrecking ball of a Medieval footie match throughout the town. Only men play. Though women have attempted. (I have written about that here.) I’ve seen it once, and that was enough, so I’m considering a jaunt to Stenness.