Hook Head Lighthouse is one of 70 operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights around the coast of Ireland and plays a vital role in maritime safety. It is also one of twelve lighthouses which make up Great Lighthouses of Ireland. Watching ‘Nature in the Skies’ – sunset and the Harvest Moon rising over Hook Head on the Wexford coastline, now there’s something to whet a maritime appetite - or even a land-based one, writes Tom MacSweeney. Hook Head is the oldest operational lighthouse in the world, purpose-built all of 800 years ago and later this month it will host its second annual Harvest Moon celebration on ‘Culture Night’ – Friday, September 22.
Manager at the Lighthouse, Ann Waters, says that “the tip of the Hook Peninsula is the ideal spot for watching the slideshow of nature in the skies. During sunrise, sunset, moonrises and on starry nights the Hook Peninsula offers incredible vistas.”
The harvest moon is the full moon nearest to the Autumnal equinox. This usually falls in September, but it can also fall in October. Usually, the moon will rise around 50 minutes later than it did the night before. But during the harvest moon, it rises around the same time every evening. Sometimes it feels as though there is a week of full moons.
The Lighthouse Visitor Centre will open late, providing the Hook Lighthouse Barbeque and Hook Pilsner and a harvest brew from Arthurstown Brewing Company of locally grown malted barley. Musician Brendan Keane will be joined by singer-songwriters, Shane Kenny and Jimi Cullen. Kenny. The Hooks and Crookes sea shanty singers will have sea shanties/
A limited number of €30 tickets will be available for the Sunset Tour Experience, offering visitors the opportunity to take a guided tour up 115 well-worn steps of the medieval tower. Tickets can be booked in advance by calling 051 397055
The celebration of the harvest moon originated in Europe to make that when days were getting shorter, it extended the hours when harvesting could be done.
