There Will Be A Live-Stream Of Summer Solstice At Stonehenge, So Prepare Your Spells
Few sites in the world are more mysterious and iconic than Stonehenge. One of the most popular times for tourists to visit (usually) is during the summer solstice when you watch the sun rise behind the Heel Stone on the longest day of the year.
Obviously that’s off the cards this year (although I have to admit it’s not like I had a trip to England planned anyway). So the people who manage the site, The English Heritage Organization, are asking everyone to stay the heck home and tune in to a livestream of the event instead.
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“We have consulted widely on whether we could have proceeded safely and we would have dearly liked to host the event as per usual, but sadly in the end, we feel we have no choice but to cancel,” explained Nichola Tasker, the director of Stonehenge (yes, apparently that is an actual job and yes it does sound awesome).
“We hope that our live stream offers an alternative opportunity for people near and far to connect with this spiritual place at such a special time of year and we look forward to welcoming everyone back next year”.
The summer solstice live stream will take place at local time on Sunday morning, June 21, which by my dodgy calculations will be about 2.00pm on the same day in Australia. You can view the stream on The English Heritage Organization’s social media accounts.
Why is summer solstice such a big deal at Stonehenge? Well because the whole thing was basically built around the sun’s movements. The stones in the middle, which were put there about 2500 BC, were carefully aligned to the most extreme movements of the sun, or the solstices.
While this seems to have been done to mark a Neolithic calendar, we don’t actually know if any ceremonies and such happened around these times — although the druid and pagan communities have some magical theories.
Maybe do a few spells and pagan chants around the lounge room while you watch? Just please make it about ridding the world of COVID-19 because every little bit helps.
(Lead Image: Pexels / John Nail)
