Welcoming the Summer at Stonehenge

Last weekend, myself and three other Korbel in Geneva classmates went on a wild, 24-hour adventure to the United Kingdom to go to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice festival. We left in the afternoon on Friday and were back in Geneva by the evening on Saturday. We packed a lot into those 24-ish hours, let me tell you. 

After arriving at London-Gatwick airport, we picked up a rental car and my brave friend Paul took on the task of being the driver. Remember: drivers in the UK drive on the LEFT side of the road, which is insane. Fortunately, we rented an automatic car instead of a manual one, so that made things a bit easier. However, no matter what kind of contraption you're driving, leaving the airport and getting on the freeway on the LEFT side is super intense. I sat shotgun and played navigator. That in and of itself was really weird, though, since the passenger seat in the UK would have a steering wheel and pedals in the USA. Regardless of everything being backwards, we survived and I'm very glad I printed out driving directions! We made it to Salisbury, parked in the lot next to the train station, took a huge sigh of relief, and realized we were all starving. 

Fortunately, Salisbury is a really cute town (at least the small part we saw was) and there was a delicious Indian restaurant right around the corner. A dozen plates and one bottle of wine later, we were all set with dinner and leftovers for our adventure. We stopped by a Tesco grocery store and stocked up on beer, made our way back to the train station, and hopped on board an awesome, customized, double-decker Stonehenge shuttle bus!

Sweet bus, bro.

We arrived at the car park at around 10:30-11:00pm and were immediately so happy that we decided not to drive directly to Stonehenge and try to park there. There were at least ten thousand cars, and many more in the queue to park, despite the late hour. Holy moly. 

We walked across some fields and in between cars for a kilometer or two in the dark, the path occasionally lit up by giant raised floodlights. Of the four of us, I was the only one who had been to Stonehenge before, and even then, it had been seven years ago and during the daytime, so none of us were really sure what to expect.

Finally, one of us spotted the stones in the distance. "Guys, there it is!" Our energy level spiked immediately. The Summer and Winter Solstices are the only two occasions each year where the English Heritage association removes the barrier ropes around Stonehenge and lets tens of thousands of Pagans, Druids, revelers, and curious members of public enter for free, be within and about the stones, and stay up all night to celebrate the solstice and watch the sun rise. 

This night, dear readers, is an experience of truly magical proportions. Spending the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge has been on my Bucket List since I first heard about the event during that fateful visit to the site in 2007. This was worth every second of travel and sleep deprivation and time and energy, and I count this night as one of the most amazing of my life. There were so many people (36,000ish, to be more precise). I got to touch stones that have been in place for nearly 5,000 years, placed there by unknown souls for unknown reasons. I pulled my first ever all-nighter for this. I watched a sunrise for the first time in years, and the weather was perfect for it. I was in a beautiful place and on a wonderful adventure.

The gang's all here!

Proof!

While you couldn't see a lot during the dark of night besides the mass of bodies everywhere around you and the faint shadow of the stones and people sleeping at their bases, there were so many sounds. Singing, chanting, drum circles, guitars, talking, laughing, drunken mumbling, voices filled with awe, with joy, and with sleep (at about 3:00am). When the first vague rays of sun began to shine on the eastern horizon, though, the tone changed. The massive floodlights were turned off, people quieted down a little, preparing for group ceremonies to celebrate the sun's arrival, or for private moments of meditation. Even with 36,000 people, watching the sunrise with the stones was peaceful, relatively quiet, and breathtaking. There was 5,000 years of magic at that site and in those moments and you could feel it on your skin and in your breath (or was that the crisp June morning air?). I heard afterward that this was the first year in many when the weather was actually clear and dry enough to fully see the sunrise, and I'm so grateful that this was the one completely random year in which I was able to be at this place for such a moment.

Just before sunrise

Some of the thousands of people within the stones.

People, people, everywhere.

As the sun rose, we walked through the stones, around them, far from them, sighting the first images of the new season and the renewal of the year from all angles, watching people dance, pray, meditate, smile, hold their breath, sing, hold hands, kiss, be still, and gather and give energy, light, and love. Those most traditional Solstice believers formed a circle and welcomed the sunrise with dance, with music, with the blowing of horns, and with the welcoming of summer via an earnest and shared wish of "May there be peace in the East, may there be peace in the South, may there be peace in the West, may there be peace in the North, may there be peace across the Earth". Finally, the light enveloped us, all 36,000. Eyes darting from sun to stone to human forms of all shapes, sizes, personalities, and beliefs; all united for those few rays of sunshine at the dawn of a late June day.

Central or South American (From where? Unknown) tribal dancers at sunrise.

Salisbury Plain

Steampunk Pagans

Ceremony welcoming the summer season

Ceremonial horn blower

THIS GUY.

... and we watched the sun rise over Salisbury Plain and felt contented.

The thousands of us, with bated breath, thinking as one, 

"Welcome, Summer. We've been waiting for you."

I am beyond grateful for the chance to experience an occasion such as this, and I am so pleased that I was willing and able to take advantage of the opportunity. I'm also grateful to the friends and classmates that accompanied me for such a journey, and I'm grateful for all of the things that the Summer Solstice represents at this time and place in my life. The dawn of new seasons, experiences, challenges, and adventures, all set among the immovable history that is my past and everything that has gone before. 

This is one night I will not soon (if ever) forget. My spirits and energy are high at this, the debut of another incredible life adventure. What a way to kick it off!

Stonehenge Summer Solstice selfie and some of the hoards leaving the site after sunrise.