In the pre-dawn darkness, a procession of druid priests in white robes carry banners past the monoliths of Stonehenge, the ancient British archaeological site. There is an aroma of burning sage. a bagpipe calls in the distance. As dawn approaches, feverish drums rise. If you hadn’t already felt the power in the stones in this summer solstice celebration, there’s no mistaking the natural vibration as the sun rises in alignment with the stone circle.
Most of the time, visiting Stonehenge — which is owned by the British Crown and managed by English Heritage, a non-profit organization that oversees more than 400 of the country’s historic sites — requires you to buy tickets and stay away from the stones, the which are usually blocked off with ropes. But since 2000, four times a year, at the solstices and equinoxes, the ropes are lowered and visitors are invited to wander the stone circle, staying overnight after sunrise if they wish.
On Thursday, to mark this year’s summer solstice, the monument opened at 7pm as visitors began arriving on buses from nearby Salisbury, a journey that took more than an hour in traffic. The rules were strict: Picnic blankets and warmth are allowed, but no camping gear or chairs. Snacks are fine. Alcohol is prohibited.
The crowd ebbed and flowed, with an afternoon wave of picnicking tourists then leaving before dark. Overnighters faced evening temperatures of around 50 degrees Fahrenheit without shelter. Those who remained drummed, chanted and communed with the stones, which were illuminated by a nearly full moon and purple floodlights. Wreaths of flowers above many heads. The intensity grew throughout the night and increased with faster drumming and chanting when the sky lit up just before 4am.
There were also food trucks offering wood-fired pizzas, stuffed potatoes, curries and donuts, and a souvenir merch tent.
Arthur Pendragon, 70, a modern Druid (ancient Druids were Celtic priests), wore white robes with an embroidered red dragon, thick silver rings and a silver dragon crown. He called the stones “cathedral”. Charlotte Pulver, 45, a pharmacist from Hastings who specializes in natural remedies, has been coming to the site for 12 years. He said it’s “special to come together in community to honor these tides and alignments of the earth.” Some American tourists in the UK to see Taylor Swift’s Eras tour have ‘decided to drop by’. In total, about 15,000 people visited it.
Crowds walked inside the circle, touching the sarsens (sarsen refers to the type of sandstone used at Stonehenge) that were placed here some 4,500 years ago. Some held ceremonies, welcoming the new season with chants of “heart to heart and hand to hand.” Some placed their hands on the stones and closed their eyes, seeming to draw strength from them. The surfaces are gray and uneven, with signs of Bronze Age graffiti and, on one, a carved signature by Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The orange dust that was sprayed on them at a climate protest on Wednesday had already been washed away.
The monument has been credited to various groups throughout its history, including the Phoenicians, Druids and Romans. Jennifer Wexler, a historian at English Heritage who specializes in prehistoric sites, said the archaeological consensus is that Stonehenge was built gradually and used differently over thousands of years, from the late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age, or roughly between 3000 B.C. X. and 1500 BC
The druid link is murky, but it is undoubtedly part of Stonehenge’s modern identity. In the 17th century, one of the first excavators suggested that the Druids were the likely builders. Even after this was dismissed (the earliest known references to Druids date back to the 4th century BC, after research suggested that Stonehenge was built), the idea stuck.
It is fitting that a modern group, inspired by the past, has chosen Stonehenge for its own use. As archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes wrote in a 1967 essay titled “God in the Machine”: “Each age has its Stonehenge that it deserves—or desires.” The poet William Blake called it “the edifice of eternal death.”
Appreciation of the sun and the solstice resonates through the ages in Britain, with references in Anglo-Saxon literature and links to medieval mystery works. Of course, there’s also Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Britain’s relatively northern position means there are fewer than six hours of daylight in midwinter, but on the solstice the sun rises before 5am and doesn’t set until almost 9.30pm.
Dr Wexler, the English Heritage historian, said the alignment of the solstice was at the heart of Stonehenge’s design. This is perhaps not surprising given how prominent the sky and seasonal rhythms would have been in the late Neolithic period: the movement of the sun and stars dominated life.
Druid Chris Park, 51, a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids from Oxfordshire, is an artist and beekeeper. He said he sees the solstice as something that transcends religions and nationalities because it is accessible to all and therefore “can unite us in important moments of peace and celebration.”
At 4:52 am on Thursday, standing in a field on Salisbury Plain, with druids in white robes and tourists wrapped in blankets, we were all looking in one direction at once (albeit some of us through phone screens). This collective attention to the sun was a link between them and those who stood in this place 5,000 years ago to look at the sun from the same angle – appreciating the darkness giving way to light.
