Summer solstice draws 18000 people to Stonhenge

[Vehl]

Tens of thousands of revellers gathered at Stonehenge for an all-night party to celebrate the longest day of the year this morning - despite grey clouds that obscured the sunrise. English Heritage say 18,000 revellers descended on the site that is usually roped off to the public to witness dawn at exactly 4.43am.

The event is significant for druids, who were joined by hippies, pagans and tourists as well as hordes of younger visitors in search of a good party. The annual event is a modern take on solstice celebrations which were once a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar. Celebrations focus on the Heelstone, which sits just outside the main circle, and is aligned with the midsummer sunrise.

Stonehenge's origins remain a mystery, but one theory is that it is a huge astronomical calendar. Others say an ancient sun-worshipping culture aligned the structure with the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006112/Summer-solstice-18-000-gather-cloudy-Stonehenge-night-party.html#ixzz1Q2C1LhBC

Summer solstice festival in Russia





I'm glad to see the revival of native traditions. Keep up the good work pagans! A Merry Summer Solstice greetings to you all :)

[Dr. Strange]

1. Does anyone know who these people are?

Or what they are doing?

[Vehl]

2. They are mostly Pagans,

Mostly Druids, Wiccans..etc etc . Naturally there were also people who came here to take part in the festival, and maybe even passers by. The solstice days are of vital importance to many Pagan traditions, thus Pagans usually celebrate such events.

The StoneHenge is usually closed to the public (the stones are roped off, and tourists cannot touch them). But the English heritage foundation has been successful in allowing the authorities to open it for the public on the solstice days.

more info on the link, with photo captions

[caraher]

4. I think Dr. Strange was riffing on "Spinal Tap"

In the intro to the song "Stonehenge" over atmospheric sounds, Nigel slowly intones, "Nobody knows who they were... or... what they were doing..."

[Dr. Strange]

5. Little-known fact: Stonehenge was built by one man.

His name was Duncan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMofDWzfA6A
:rofl:

[TZ]

6. This answer goes to eleven!

:rofl:

[Dr. Strange]

12. What does that even mean?

:hide:

[Marrah_G]

22. I would guess mostly wiccans and pagans and such.

They are celebrating Summer Solstice, one of 8 Feast days through out the year.

[ZombieHorde]

3. Pagans are fun to party with. When I lived in Portland,

almost everyone I hung with was pagan/OTO/TOPY. I hung out with some Satanists as well, but they were uptight compared to the pagans.

[Vehl]

9. I like Pagans as well

In fact, theoretically, Hindus are pagans :P even though we are a very diverse group.I knew some Wiccans, they are pretty cool!

[okasha]

25. Vehal, q question, if you don't mind.

A point has come up on another thread in which a poster claims that Hindus are required to have at least one male child "or something bad happens." Is there any validity to this?

Thanks.

[Vehl]

26. none at all

In fact this is the first time I've even heard of such a requirement! There is no such requirement and this is probably one more of those urban myths people create about Hinduism. Furthermore some people confuse some practices unique to certain regions/tribes with Hinduism.

Some of the other common myths associated with Hinduism, to this day are the "holy cow" and "Hindus have 300 million gods.

People do not realize that the "holy cow" issue most probably rose out of economic reasons instead of religious ones.

I remember a pastor (the kind that waylay people on the road intersections) ask me "why dont you eat the cow?". Instead of giving him the long explanation (which I would have given to anyone else...except to missionaries) I asked him "would you eat your dog?". For which he said "of course not! its my pet!, and the cow is not". I told him, For the people from the subcontinent, the cow too is considered a pet.

The longer explanation is that the Indian culture is overwhelmingly an agrarian one. Thus milk, and varieties of beans were/are our main source of protein. This is evident if one looks at Indian cuisine...there is so much dairy-dairy derivatives in it. The bulls also were the main mode of transport, and farm labour (threshing, transporting carts). Prohibiting the slaughter/consumption of such a versatile and important animal made total economic sense. Added to this is the Indian notion that because the cow gives us milk, the same way a mother's milk sustains a baby's life, the cow is equal to a mother. Killing the cow thus also became equated to killing one's own mother. Later on, after millenia.. the reason was forgotten, and only the "cows should not be eaten/harmed" remained. For all intents and purposes cows came to attain the social/practical significance dogs/cats have attained in the west. Thus when one applies the principle of cultural relativism to the "holy cow" issue, one realizes that this is no different or bizarre than one's desire not to eat dogs and cats which one considers pets.

ps: on a funny note...both Indians and Westerners would be both equally affronted that some Koreans/SEA people eat dogs.lol...its all culturally relative


The other common misconception, that Hindus have 300 million gods (so oft found on so called "authoritative" books about Hinduism...not to mention school textbooks here in the west) is also an urban myth. Hindus see the divine in all things, in both animate and inanimate objects, Hindu schools of philosophy range from Pantheism/panentheism to monotheism..monism..and atheism.

The 300 million gods figure has a very good reason behind it..sadly the person to whom the number was quoted to, was probably too clueless to understand the reason behind it
a
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^^ if one looks at the above population figures, the Indian population reached 300 million during the British rule. This coincidence, with the 300 million gods number is not an accident. When asked about the number of gods, a pundit (Hindu Scholar) probably gave the number of Hindus instead. Hindus believe that the divine(or for Hindu Atheists or non-dualists the lack thereof) can be found in each and any path. Thus naturally 300 million Hindus would have 300 million paths/gods, as it stands to reason that no two humans are alike..and by extension, no two paths would be the same. Some British Bureaucrat...or worse yet..some "Historian" decided that this is a good number..and without any inquiry into the reason behind the number, jsut perpetuated the myth that there are 300 million gods in Hinduism. Only when one looks at historical facts, along with demographic/economic trends, one realizes the reason behind such answers. Sadly, even to this day many American textbooks perpetuate such myths about Hinduism....the same way they still used to claim incorrectly(at least not anymore) that the Numerals and Zero were invented by Arabs, instead of Indians.


My apologies for digressing :). But I hope this post puts such urban myths in context.

As for the male-child requirement...its not even an urban myth..obviously a false statement by someone.



Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any :)

[okasha]

27. Thank you, Vehl.

That's both helpful and interesting. Please feel free to digress any time you want to!

[Silent3]

13. OTO? TOPY?

I'm not finding much Googling those acronyms (a few uses, some obviously totally unrelated to this subject, no definitions), and have no good guesses for what they might mean. Your post using those terms was one of the top hits, in fact, so I'm guessing these terms are not in common usage.

[ZombieHorde]

15. OTO = Ordo Templi Orientis TOPY = Temple of Physic Youth

OTO is an initiatory western sex magic cult. http://www.ain23.com/topy.net/

TOPY is a loose knit neo-pagan/anarchist cult. http://www.ain23.com/topy.net/

Cult means new religious movement, not scary brainwashing group.

These two groups are into ritual magic, racial/gender/orientation equality, social freedom, parties, and art. Most of them are either polytheist or atheist. I have met a few who were complete skeptics, but these folks seem to be a minority.

[Odin2005]

20. OTO, that's Alistair Crowley's followers, right?

[ZombieHorde]

23. Yes. The OTO is a big Crowley fan club. nt

[Odin2005]

21. We have a few Wiccans and a hermetical magician in our UU congregation. Cool folks.

Sometimes the magician will come wearing his mage's robe! :rofl:

[ZombieHorde]

24. Sounds fun. nt

[Mojorabbit]

7. A happy Solstice back at you!

I hope to travel there one year for the celebration but photos are the next best thing.

[Vehl]

8. Thank you

Btw, do you know of any Pagan festivals in the west coast? I would love to check it out. And yes...I too hope to visit the Stonehenge and other similar places one day...hopefully in the not too distant future.lol

[Mojorabbit]

11. I am on the east coast but

here is a link that has listings of events for all over
http://www.witchvox.com/vn/vn_index/xevents.html

[Vehl]

16. wow, great site!

thank you!.

[Odin2005]

10. That druid guy in the white robe looks like Gandalf!

[Silent3]

14. Gandalf the Not-Completely-Gray-Yet

Back when he was only a few hundred years old. :)

[Vehl]

17. haha true

And this lady could have passed for an elf if she had pointy ears :D

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. I sense a photoshop opportunity. Alas, I don't have the talent.

She would look really awesome with a slight Spokization.

[Odin2005]

19. She's HAWT, too!