summer solstice « UIC London

summer solstice

Today – 21st June is the summer solstice. That is the longest day in the UK when the sun rises at 4.42 and sets at 9.20 – and that’s an incredible 17 hours of daylight. But a little depressingly although the summer is really just about to start (it runs from 1 June to 31 August). Some people use the solstice as the first day of summer but we prefer using the months to indicate the seasons. There are celebrations all over the world on midsummer day – in some northern European countries it is more spectacular since it never gets dark there at this time of the year. Perhaps the biggest celebrations in the UK will be in Stonehenge – English Heritage has run a “Managed Open Access” to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice celebrations. For many years Stonehenge was open to the public but became a huge attraction for all sorts of new-age enthusiasts, witches, druids and hippies (who used to have music festivals there) and so in the 1970s the owners of Stonehenge – English Heritage fenced it off and made it more difficult (and expensive) to go there. However they do recognise the Druidic religions and allow access at this time of the year – one of the most important to these religions. Stonehenge is one of the most popular trips UIC runs for students on the social programme. What do we know about it? Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy. Stonehenge was constructed in three phases, it has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour. It is estimated the stones were put together in 3100 BC – so about 5000 years ago. This part of England is fascinating – and very ancient. If you are a visitor to the UK do try to get to visit here. About 25 miles from Stonehenge is Avebury – another very ancient stone circle, and Glastonbury (famous for the music festival and also the ‘magic’ ) is also very near.

Here is a film of some hippies at Stonehenge!