Yesterday marked the Spring Equinox – the sunrise that the ancients managed to harness to bathe the Mnajdra temple altar in morning sunlight.
Heritage Malta organised a guided viewing of the phenomenon and it attracted a fair share of visitors – some local, some from as far away as Australia. The crowd started to gather at about 6am, working their way down from Hagar Qim to Mnajdra. At about 6.30am, the sun’s rays slowly began to poke through the patches of clouds and then the magic took place.
The sun’s rays shone straight down the entrance hall to bathe the altar in warm sunlight, making one wonder what rituals the ancients performed on mornings such as yesterday’s over 5,000 years ago. People watched the performance from both outside and within the temple. It was stunning to think that people could have come up with the technology to harness this once yearly event. Truly baffling indeed.
It was written all over the people’s faces, everyone was wondering just how they managed to get the alignment right to plan such a monumental building and precisely line up the altar to allow the warm glow of the sun to encompass the most important part of the temple.
Whatever ritual used to take place, it must have been a quick one as the effect does not last very long, about 10 minutes before the sun starts to rise high in the sky, changing the angle of how the light hits the temple. If ever there was evidence that these temples deserve more care and attention, this is it. It is a phenomenon that you do not see in many places – certainly not dating back to the time when these temples were used anyway.
In the day and age where technology reigns supreme, one can realise that it has always been that way. We might not deem the ancients’ technology as being advanced, but one can certainly appreciate the care and attention that was lavished on this most important of buildings. We should conserve it better and we should advertise it better. I did not know what to expect and words do no justice to what I saw – a truly uplifting experience indeed.