Druids come out for solstice celebration

About 200 people are set to witness the symbolic death of the Sun when dusk falls at Stonehenge Aotearoa near Carterton on Sunday.
Stonehenge Aotearoa manager and astronomer Richard Hall said the ancient Celtic and Druidic Celebration of the Winter Solstice held on the shortest day of the year on June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere is running for the third year in a row at the Wairarapa site and will now become an annual event.
He said members of the Grove of the Summer Stars and of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, will be gathering at Stonehenge Aotearoa from about 4.30pm to participate in the 6pm ritual before travelling to the Carterton R.S.A. for a winter solstice feast and a presentation from Mr Hall on ancient Celtic and Maori Matariki (New Year) star lore.
He said the ancient Celtic ceremony of the winter solstice is known in the druid tradition as Alban Arthan, which can be poetically translated as The Light of Arthur.
"Here Arthur is equated with the Sun-God who dies and is reborn as the Celtic Son of Light the Mabon at the winter solstice."
Mr Hall said in the Northern Hemisphere the winter solstice occurs in December and in ancient Rome the festival of the winter solstice was celebrated on December 25.
In AD 354 this festival was adopted by Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ, he said.
He said the druidic "cult" is today one of the fastest growing in the Western world that has also attracted people who hold a Christian faith for its "green policies".
The ceremony will commence at 4.30pm, shortly before sundown, and will be attended by local and national dignitaries and members of the public, he said.
"Weather permitting which looks from here as if it will be okay we will observe the Sun set on this, the shortest day, over the winter solstice heel stone."
Candles will be lit from the druidic fire after the sun has set, he said, which echoes the ancient tradition observed throughout Europe of dousing all home fires before they are again ignited using a torch lit from the ceremonial blaze.
For more information contact Richard Hall (027) 230-5191.