Post by Brochfael on Jun 22, 2005 19:38:21 GMT -1
Having dropped my wife off at Glastonbury (She’s doing pottery at the festival with a friend) I set off for the Stones. I arrived at the crossroads about a mile west of the circle and was directed in a big loop to join a queue for parking. At 8 o’clock, English Heritage opened the car park and the queue started to move. Some people tried to push in further down the queue by driving down wrong side of the closed road. I and a van behind me moved out to prevent any more of them.
In the car park I changed into my costume for the solstice (A nice browny-green ensemble with a short cape and a felted wool hat based on finds from Bronze Age Denmark. After parking I wondered up to the exit from the cark park (narrowly avoiding being run over by two idiots trying to have a race) to find it closed until 10 o’clock.
When 10 o’clock came I walked the kilometre or so to the stones with huge crowds. At the fence, marshals searched people confiscating all glass bottles, weapons and , for alleged safety reasons, duvets and sleeping bags. Some however got through!
I spent most of the night walking around the stones looking for interesting people to talk to. I was interviewed for Discovery channel (I gave them the perspective of an amateur prehistorian as I felt sure pagan views would be well represented). I spoke to ravers, hippies, druids and witches. I told a few stories and explained theories about the ancient significance of the stones.
About half past three, King Arthur Pendragon arrived with the King’s Drummers and processed sunwise until the crowds got too dense (That’s how it looked from where I stood). Two people climbed the Heel stone and were promptly arrested. Rollo and others started to arrive as the sky lightened and just before the sun appeared a circle was held to encourage His appearance. I watched from near the heel stone as the sun rose over the horizon and cast his rays into the centre of the circle.
I decided to leave soon after the sun had risen to avoid the vast amounts of traffic leaving the site. It still took over half an hour as people were pushing into the queue of cars leaving the site.
I made sure to take regular breaks driving back and experienced nothing more dramatic than a very surprised look when I came out of a toilet wearing what must have looked an awful lot like a dress!
I hope everyone else had an equally excellent Solstice
Blessings in fellowship
Brochfael
In the car park I changed into my costume for the solstice (A nice browny-green ensemble with a short cape and a felted wool hat based on finds from Bronze Age Denmark. After parking I wondered up to the exit from the cark park (narrowly avoiding being run over by two idiots trying to have a race) to find it closed until 10 o’clock.
When 10 o’clock came I walked the kilometre or so to the stones with huge crowds. At the fence, marshals searched people confiscating all glass bottles, weapons and , for alleged safety reasons, duvets and sleeping bags. Some however got through!
I spent most of the night walking around the stones looking for interesting people to talk to. I was interviewed for Discovery channel (I gave them the perspective of an amateur prehistorian as I felt sure pagan views would be well represented). I spoke to ravers, hippies, druids and witches. I told a few stories and explained theories about the ancient significance of the stones.
About half past three, King Arthur Pendragon arrived with the King’s Drummers and processed sunwise until the crowds got too dense (That’s how it looked from where I stood). Two people climbed the Heel stone and were promptly arrested. Rollo and others started to arrive as the sky lightened and just before the sun appeared a circle was held to encourage His appearance. I watched from near the heel stone as the sun rose over the horizon and cast his rays into the centre of the circle.
I decided to leave soon after the sun had risen to avoid the vast amounts of traffic leaving the site. It still took over half an hour as people were pushing into the queue of cars leaving the site.
I made sure to take regular breaks driving back and experienced nothing more dramatic than a very surprised look when I came out of a toilet wearing what must have looked an awful lot like a dress!
I hope everyone else had an equally excellent Solstice
Blessings in fellowship
Brochfael
