Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year Saturday at the ancient Stonehenge monument.
Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.
There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June. Starting Sunday, days will get a little bit longer in the Northern Hemisphere every single day until late June.
These annual changes in sunlight as the Earth revolves around the sun have been well known to humans for centuries. Monuments such as Stonehenge in England and the Torreon at Peru’s Machu Picchu were designed in part to align with solstices.
The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.
“This is all about renewal, rebirth, we’re entering into the new year, and it’s also a good time to acknowledge what’s taking place in the year that’s been,” said civil servant Chris Smith, 31. “There’s such a vibe. I mean, if you look around, you’ve got everybody here, there’s such an energy in the space.”
The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?
In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.
That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,
Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”
What is the solstice?
As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle. For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet.
The solstices mark the times during the year when the Earth is at its most extreme tilt toward or away from the sun. This means the hemispheres are getting very different amounts of sunlight — and days and nights are at their most unequal.
During the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, the upper half of the Earth is tilted away from the sun, creating the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice falls between December 20 and 23..
Meanwhile, at the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is toward the sun, leading to the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22.
What is the equinox?
During the spring and fall equinoxes, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight.
The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. That’s because on the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time — though one may get a few extra minutes, depending on where you are on the planet.
The Northern Hemisphere’s spring — or vernal — equinox can land between March 19 and 21, depending on the year. Its fall – or autumnal — equinox can land between Sept. 21 and 24.
What’s the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons?
These are just two different ways to carve up the year.
Meteorological seasons are defined by the weather. They break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles. By that calendar, spring starts on March 1, summer on June 1, fall on Sept. 1 and winter on Dec. 1.
Astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun.
Solstices kick off summer and winter. Equinoxes mark the start of spring and autumn. (AP)
You must be logged in to post a comment.