Saturday 22 December 2012

Winter Solstice 2012

Yesterday my Husband decided it would be a good idea to visit Stonehenge to watch sun rise on the Winter Solstice.  He dragged me out of bed at 4:30am!  We were surprised that it wasn't too busy, but maybe that was due to the amount of rain elsewhere.
We arrived in the dark whilst the stars were still out
and stood in the inner circle to watch the ceremony that was taking place by the altar stone,
before moving outside to watch the sun rise.

Some people watched from the nearby barrows (burial mounds).
Gradually the sky lightened.
The under-lighting of the clouds was beautiful.
Then the sun peeked over the horizon
and
magically
transformed
the
sky.
We moved back into the henge
and viewed the sun through the stones.

Shadows of monolith on monolith were created
and a new day had dawned.


Some people were then travelling to Avebury for the actual Solstice at 11:11am,
but we headed for home
and a strong pot of coffee!

2 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

That's fantastic, I didn't realize they let people go inside the stones any more. When we first visited Stonehenge, many years ago you just wandered around, no walkways, in fact we picniced in the circle. Would love to see a Solstice there.

thesnailgarden said...

Hi Janet. People are only allowed to enter the monument for the solstices nowadays. I too can remember when you could do so at anytime of the year. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Pj x