It was the shortest day and the longest tailback. The line of traffic to greet the midwinter sun began to form near Stonehenge long before dawn. With the final mile from Larkhill and Winterbourne Stoke taking an hour, and English Heritage warning that the car park was full, many ignored the yellow cones and dumped their cars on the verge, completing the journey on foot.
Druids and hippies, families and tourists walked past Fargo Wood to the ancient stone circle where people first gathered 4,000 years ago to worship the returning sun. “Feels like one of the larger gatherings,” said Arthur Pendragon, a former soldier and biker turned once and future king. Some 6,000 were clocked on the gate, with 98,500 watching the sun rise online via a livestream.
“The winter solstice has become more popular recently and was more important than the summer one when Stonehenge was built,” said Jennifer Wexler, a historian with English Heritage. “There’s something magical about wandering across fields in the dark to celebrate the return of the light.
It rattles my bones that any self-respecting pagan would get into a car for anything festivity-related. In times of climate crisis, visit (or create) your local sanctuary. If you have to burn fossil fuels to reach whatever holy place you want to visit, chances are it’s not your holy place.
Here is an old Asturian tune:
Dirigimos nuestros pasos
Al templo con alegria
Un angel nos acompaña
El que nos sirve de guia.
Let’s direct our steps (not cars, not airplanes!)
towards the temple with joy
an angel walks with us
and will be our guide.
Pilgrimages have been a thing for a long time.
And they did that by walking, not by climbing into an ICE vehicle
Or horse back, or wagon, or boat
None of them eating fossil fuels. Mind you I specified in times of climate crisis.
I stand by it: if you make a pilgrimage by getting in your car and driving to a place your are doing it wrong. If you direct your own steps and walk with an honest effort on the earth (the walking more important than the destiny) your pilgrimage will be much more likely to be successful. Earth likes the rhythm of your feet.
Sorry I didn’t notice the climate crisis bit
So if someone in the America’s making a pilgrimage to mecca has to find a way to walk across an ocean. Yes the journey is more important than the destination but I feel that ignoring practicality in some elitist/gatekeeping bunk.
Read the self-respecting pagan bit. Not talking about Muslims and Mecca here, but Pagans and Stonehenge.