Solstice blessings all! I decided to begin our brand new blog on a day that symbolises joy, strength, abundance and energy.
This morning the kids and I woke at 04:30 (on a school day!) so that we could see the sun rise on what is a special day for us. Although from where we are we can’t see the east very well as there are a lot of trees and other things in the way, the sentiment was still there, and the kids loved the adventure of getting up early! They didn’t like it quite so much when I had to wake them up again at 7am to get ready for school but hey…
As someone with Pagan beliefs, I follow the cycle of nature and celebrate the seasons according to what the sun cycles represent. The summer solstice technically falls between 20th – 23rd June every year depending on exact timings of sunrise, but many people just celebrate on the 21st June. This year the actual date was in fact the 21st, so this is the day that we rose early to greet the sun on the longest day of the year. We had just over 16 hours of sunlight in the UK this year, and though life means we couldn’t have as full a celebration as I would have liked, we had family over for a BBQ dinner (any food cooked over a fire to represent the burning sun is good on summer solstice), and gave our thanks to the energy of the sun.
Solstice at Stonehenge
For my 30th birthday I was fortunate enough to join in with the solstice celebrations at Stonehenge – an important monument for pagans which I will delve into deeper in another post. The stones are currently looked after by English Heritage and whilst you can visit the stones at any time, the two solstices are the only times you are actually allowed amongst them rather than viewing from a distance.
Myself and some friends went to the 4 day solstice festival at Stonehenge Campsite & Glamping in 2017, not long after my youngest had been born. Unfortunately I couldn’t take him with me this time, so I spent a lot of time sat outside my tent pumping milk! The festival itself has a really chilled out vibe, there are rituals to participate in if you so wish, or you can just kick back and listen to the bands playing a variety of music. It was here in fact that I fell in love with the music of Vojta – a one man band who plays Celtic style music on his violin, didgeridoo, flute and more, whilst layering the music and building it up so beautifully that I couldn’t help but dance freely.
The festival includes a bus over to the stones on the evening before solstice, where you can dance to the beat of the drums all night long, before taking your position to welcome the sun rising behind the Heel Stone and shining the first rays of the longest day into the centre of the circle.
Although some people believe that the solstice celebrations have lost their spirituality and it’s now one big party with no respect for the stones and what they represent, I have to admit I didn’t find that when I was there. Yes we stood on the stones, but the whole time I could just feel the energy radiating from them and I appreciated every minute of it. However it’s not an event I would take the children to until they are a lot older, perhaps next year I may try and find somewhere else to celebrate with them instead. The sunrise that year was slightly anticlimactic because it was so misty, and there was a bit of confusion as to when the sun had actually risen, but I am so glad I got to experience it and feel the energy of the sun and stones together alongside like-minded people.
When the sun has risen, you walk back to the bus (a pretty long trek when you’ve been awake all night!) and get taken back to the campsite where with any luck you’ll get some sleep. The year I went it was actually crazy hot and so I woke up after about 2 hours sleep absolutely cooking in my tent, then just spent the rest of the day relaxing as much as possible.
If it’s something you are interested in then I would definitely recommend going to the solstice celebrations at Stonehenge at least once, just be prepared for a large crowd and allow yourself to be swept along with the whole atmosphere in order to really enjoy it.
Happy travels!