Avebury solstice, any good?
- Thread starter TopCat
- Start date
Mation
real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold
Definitely! I really want to go again next year and it would be lovely if you came
I wondered if I might be bored, or it would be too annoyingly woowoo, but no, none of that. Just lovely people, and not too many, in a beautiful setting. Come! 
Epona
Radar 2006-2020, Sonic 2006-2022, Jakey 2007-2024
I'm going to be a bit controversial and confrontational here, but I say leave it to the ACTUAL pagans, rather than just go along because it's a bit new age-y and that sounds like fun.
Sorry, had to say it. My family are all pagans and get a bit fed up with people who have no actual belief in that treating it like some sort of festival or rave.
If you actually want to celebrate any solstice, equinox, or anything in between, get in contact with a local group and find out what they have organised or are going to as a group, don't just turn up at an ancient monument and expect to hijack it in to some sort of mass party, not everyone there is interested in having a wild time or a rave and you could ruin it for them. You can celebrate a solstice or equinox anywhere btw - pretty much just go out and look at dawn or sunset and appreciate it, you don't need to be anywhere special for it - nature has no cathedrals.
Sorry, had to say it. My family are all pagans and get a bit fed up with people who have no actual belief in that treating it like some sort of festival or rave.
If you actually want to celebrate any solstice, equinox, or anything in between, get in contact with a local group and find out what they have organised or are going to as a group, don't just turn up at an ancient monument and expect to hijack it in to some sort of mass party, not everyone there is interested in having a wild time or a rave and you could ruin it for them. You can celebrate a solstice or equinox anywhere btw - pretty much just go out and look at dawn or sunset and appreciate it, you don't need to be anywhere special for it - nature has no cathedrals.
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co-op
But....but cLoWnFiSh....
All of this ^^ applies just as much to pagans as anyone; don't go to somewhere like Avebury etc on a solstice and expect not to find a load of other people. If it's communion with nature you want, find somewhere approriate, if it's somewhere with ancient connections to past peoples, there are literally thousands of them in Britain. Pagans don't own Stonehenge or Avebury.
Epona
Radar 2006-2020, Sonic 2006-2022, Jakey 2007-2024
I think you will find that English Heritage own both sites, and they roll their eyes and hope not too many people turn up.
co-op
But....but cLoWnFiSh....
Pagans aren't a homogenous group of course, but there are a few who over the years have acted as if they do own the Henge and Avebury and have done their best to monopolise access to those sites on the festival days by toadying up to EH, the police and all the other control freak bureaucracies who have tried to touristise the sites and strip them of any mystery.
There are so many amazing alternatives if you want a spiritual experience, and so many other festival days, some other sites are pretty famous really but just haven't attracted the weirdness for some reason or other.
Sirena
Don't monkey with the buzzsaw
There was a bit of moaning from pagans this year about the crush and the mess at Stonehenge and (from King Arthur) how it was disappointing that there were not enough robed people along, if nothing else just to try and remind the ravers and the casual tourists why everyone is there in the first place.
But you can't expect anything else if 37,000 people turn up. And, to be honest, Summer Solstice is about having a big party if it's about anything at all.
Avebury is different. It's quieter and more for the formal ritual and people should go for experience of the ceremony.
Pagans are instinctive outlaws (the main Avebury druids are ex-bikers) and no-one is going to frown and mutter if other outlaws come along and join in. They're going to be really pleased, in fact. You just have to remember that this means a lot to some people and, maybe for the half hour or hour of the ceremony, you don't act like louts.
But Avebury is a big, rambling site and you can have your own celebration in another field if you want
But you can't expect anything else if 37,000 people turn up. And, to be honest, Summer Solstice is about having a big party if it's about anything at all.
Avebury is different. It's quieter and more for the formal ritual and people should go for experience of the ceremony.
Pagans are instinctive outlaws (the main Avebury druids are ex-bikers) and no-one is going to frown and mutter if other outlaws come along and join in. They're going to be really pleased, in fact. You just have to remember that this means a lot to some people and, maybe for the half hour or hour of the ceremony, you don't act like louts.
But Avebury is a big, rambling site and you can have your own celebration in another field if you want
Sweet FA
✪ Three rounds Lord, in my .44 ✪
Yeah the bastards
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Yeah you would love it. Avebury has less up their own arse pagans and druid types than Stonehenge. It was funny hearing kids being told off for clambering on the Avebury stones. You got the impression that such tellings off had been going on since the stones got erected all those years ago.
Thora
Differently Ethical
I used to go to Avebury a lot as a child for rolling-down-hill opportunities
Not quite - people don't have their christmas dinner in church, nor do they get pissed there. Nor would they think it acceptable to do so.
Sirena
Don't monkey with the buzzsaw
Over the years, pagan have been noticeable among those negotiating with the forces of babylon, not to get exclusive access but to get the stones opened to anyone. No-one wants the stones to be some sort of holy museum, ringed with wire fences.Pagans don't own stonehenge so not really comparable with churches.
I think all they would like is to be able to do their thing for about one hour four times a year. They're happy with others being there too.
Do you have to be so condescending? Cuss me (and others) out properly or not at all.Pagans don't own stonehenge so not really comparable with churches.
Sirena
Don't monkey with the buzzsaw
The pagans going to Stonehenge/Avenury now have nothing whatever to do with the "pagans" that built thing, about who's beliefs we know nothing.
For example how do they know that the sites were originally used for po-faced ceremonies and not festivals/raves?
For example how do they know that the sites were originally used for po-faced ceremonies and not festivals/raves?
Sirena
Don't monkey with the buzzsaw
I reckon they were so impressively built that they were a collecting point for people from miles around and people that travel that far would stay for days if not weeks. There would have been ceremony, markets and raves.
tim
EXPLODED TIM! (Help me!!!)
Still, they seemed to be capable of dealing with unwanted visitors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_Archer
Mation
real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
To be fair it was funnyWas that an incredibly poor attempt at a joke?
Last year they closed the road end of the ridgeway (sanctuary) off to vehicles so i parked up in the nearby village and carried tent up there just to see what happened - turned out that the security at the road end were fine with it as they only had legal right to prevent vehicles, a few parties going on they also had a water point there if i needed any - very mellow. A lot of parties going on in the woods there all the way down to the stones in Avebury.
eatmorecheese
He's fallen out of the car again
I keep coming back to look at this pic. Stunning.
WhyLikeThis
Something, something, something
I hear police are making their presence felt at Avebury nowdays. Never used to be the case. Hope it is ‘t so this year.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Plot up on Silbury Hill, not allowed but no one gives a fuck. Careful about the mineshaft tho…
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