The autumn equinox Stonehenge

[Redbeck]

Stonehenge drew its customary crowds of druids, pagans and tourists for their first glimpse of the autumn equinox

Visitors gathered at Stonehenge to watch the sun rise, which marks the moment when night and day are theoretically the same length across the world.

Hundreds of people attended the event at the site of the ancient stones in the county of Wiltshire, England, UK to observe the autumn equinox.

Druidry, sometimes termed Druidism, is a modern spiritual or religious movement that generally promotes harmony, connection, and reverence for the natural world. ... Another prominent belief among modern Druids is the veneration of ancestors, particularly those who belonged to prehistoric societies. Much of which is thankfully beginning to creep back into modern monotheistic religion in Britain having been there in the beginning as part of the foundation stones of early christianity exported from Ireland, but gradually removed from the faith by a relatively small group of prelates over time. What right of course had they to do that!

According to the astronomical definition of the seasons, the autumnal equinox also marks the beginning of autumn, which lasts until the winter solstice (December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere, June 20th or 21st in the Southern Hemisphere).





The word “equinox” derives from Latin meaning “equal night,” referring to the roughly 12-hour day and 12-hour night that occurs only on the two equinox days of the year.

The Autumn Equinox is a meaningful time of year that enables us to honour the harvest. Whether that be a "real" farmers', smallholders' or allotment grower's harvest, maybe just of the things planted in your garden or it can also represent the harvest of of efforts and intentions for your own life path as well as that of fellow humankind you resolved upon earlier in the year.

The changing seasons are key points in the cycle of life in nature, and within this cycle many ancient cultures perceived a powerful deeper message for humanity.

Indigenous cultures acknowledged earth-based wisdom and understood that the four focal points of the year: the Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Autumn Equinox; illuminated stages of an inner spiritual journey – a spiritual cycle that the individual takes within themselves.

As we consciously link our awareness to nature's cycles, our understanding of our own cycles begins to deepen. Our lives go through cycles of growth, harvest, death, and rebirth just as they are observed in nature.

Perhaps our greatest surge of wisdom would be to take the time at this point in the year to look within ourselves and clear out the space in which we are creating fertile soil for our creativity and greater vision.

[Redbeck]

STORY OF STONEHENGE

Stonehenge is possibly the world’s most famous prehistoric monument, built in several stages. The initial monument was an early henge monument, assembled about 5,000 years ago, while the unique stone circle was constructed in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. A large number of burial mounds were built nearby in the early Bronze Age.

Today, Stonehenge together with the stone circle at Avebury forms the heart of a World Heritage Site, with a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments.



LIFE BEFORE STONEHENGE

The earliest structures that archeologists are aware of in the immediate vicinity are four or five pits, three of which appear to have held large pine ‘totem-pole like’ posts erected in the Mesolithic period, between 8500 and 7000 BC. Quite how these posts related to the later monument of Stonehenge monument remains unclear .

This was a period, when more or less the whole of southern England was largely covered by woodland, whereas the chalk downland in the area of Stonehenge may have offered an unusually open vista landscape. Therefore this is one possible reason why the site became the location of an early Neolithic monument complex.

A complex which included the causewayed enclosure at Robin Hood’s Ball, two cursus monuments or rectangular earthworks (the Greater, or Stonehenge, and Lesser Cursus), and several long barrows, all dating from the centuries around 3500 BC. The presence of these monuments most probably influenced the later location of Stonehenge.

THE STONE SETTINGS

Stones in the centre of the monument were set up in about 2500 BC. Two types of stone were used to construct Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones’. The sarsens were installed in two concentric patterns – an inner horseshoe and an outer circle – with the bluestones set up between them in a double arc.

Probably at the same time that the stones were being set up in the centre of the monument, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four Station Stones on the periphery.

About 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were rearranged to form a circle and inner oval (which was again later altered to form a horseshoe). The earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the river Avon.



One of the last prehistoric activities at Stonehenge was the digging around the stone settings of two rings of concentric pits, the so-called Y and Z holes, radiocarbon-dating from by antlers discovered within these pits assessed them as being excavated between 1800 and 1500 BC. They may have formed part of the modus operandi underpinning a plan to enable rearrangement of the stones that was abandoned.

LIFE AFTER STONEHENGE WAS BUILT

The stone settings at Stonehenge were erected in what was a period of great change in prehistory. Notably: The arrival of new styles of ‘Beaker’ pottery and an expanding knowledge of metalworking, together with a transition to the continental custom of burying people accompanied by grave goods. From about 2400 BC, well-furnished Beaker graves such as that of the "Amesbury Archer" are found nearby.

In the early Bronze Age, one of the greatest concentrations of round barrows in Britain was built in the area around Stonehenge. Many barrow groups appear to have been deliberately located on hilltops visible from Stonehenge itself, such as those on King Barrow Ridge and the particularly rich burials at the Normanton Down cemetery.

Four of the sarsens at Stonehenge were adorned with hundreds of carvings depicting axe-heads and a few daggers. They appear to be bronze axes of the Arreton Down type, dating from about 1750–1500 BC. Perhaps these axes were a symbol of power or status within early Bronze Age society, or were related in some way to nearby round barrow burials.

BRONZE AGE AND BEYOND

From the middle Bronze Age, the level of communal effort going into the construction of ceremonial monuments such as Stonehenge drastically reduced in favour of greater agragrian-related activities such as the creation of fields.

In the Iron Age, probably about 700 BC, a major hillfort later known as Vespasian’s Camp was constructed 1¼ miles east of Stonehenge overlooking the river Avon. Stonehenge appears to have been frequently visited in the Roman period (from AD 43), since many Roman objects have been found there. Recent excavations have raised the possibility that it was a place of ritual importance to Romano-British people.[14]

The small town of Amesbury is likely to have been established around the 6th century AD at a crossing point over the Avon. A decapitated man, possibly a criminal, was buried at Stonehenge in the Saxon period. From this time on, sheep husbandry dominated the open downland around Stonehenge. The earliest surviving written references to Stonehenge date from the medieval period, and from the 14th century onwards there are increasing references to Stonehenge and drawings and paintings of it.

Below:

A mid-14th-century manuscript illustration showing the wizard Merlin building Stonehenge. This idea, explained by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his ‘History of the Kings of Britain’ in 1136, was widely accepted until as late as the 16th century