Welcome the Solstice!

Stonehenge Summer Solstice

It’s the Summer Solstice today – Midsummers day, the longest day of the year.  The word solstice comes from the Latin sol sistere, which means ‘sun stand still’ which it does when the sun reaches its furthermost point away from the equator.    It should be a day filled with light, celebrations and joy as the ancients celebrated it, and pagans will light bonfires at night in homage to the sun.  I couldn’t let this pass without a piece of appropriate poetry, so here’s  ‘There is a zone whose even years’ by Emily Dickinson;-

There is a Zone whose even Years

No Solstice interrupt

Whose sun constructs perpetual noon

Whose perfect Seasons wait –

Whose Summer set in Summer, till

The Centuries of June

And Centuries of August cease

And Consciousness — is Noon

Emily Dickinson

Poem from here

Image from here

Here’s 36,500 people greeting the sun last year at Stonehenge.  It seems as soon as we get near those enigmatic stones our ancient collective nature takes over:)  Unfortunately the sun couldn’t quite get through the cloud, but it didn’t stop people enjoying themselves.  Lets hope the sun gets to star in todays Summer Solstice!

video by nachojase