Modern Attempts at Ancient Celebration
A braided essay connecting solstice celebrations across centuries and hemispheres
J.A. Norman is an aspiring author from northern Utah, but is currently studying English at Southern Utah University. She likes to make the usual a little different and always finds inspiration from history and the environment. She has been published in Kolob Canyon Review and The Bad Day Book. You can find her at janorman95.wordpress.com.
This essay is a finalist in Soft Star’s Solstice Essay Contest.
I.
Stonehenge. An ancient monument built around 2,500 BC where prehistoric people tracked the movements of celestial bodies and marked the changing of the seasons. After all these years, many of the stones have fallen and been buried by earth. The knowledge of how those ancient people celebrated this monument and calendar is almost entirely forgotten. But even now, when the Summer and Winter Solstices make their appearance, this heritage site allows the public special access to the stone circle. Come midwinter, people from around the world and from all walks of life will flood the monument to watch the sun setting through the great pillars of stone, foretelling the coming of spring.
II.
It’s the third year that we have celebrated Yuletide on the 21st of December — just the three of us, connecting with our ancestors through the darkest nights of the season. Every year, we add to the celebration. Trying to cultivate the spirit of Yule a little more with every passing Solstice. From our research on Solstice celebrations, we learned that eating ham and building a bonfire are common traditions, both for those who celebrate today and back when our ancestors recognized this time of winter. So, last year, we started roasting pre-sliced ham on hot dog sticks. At first it was a joke, but now it has become a tradition.
III.
If you go to the monument of Stonehenge you will learn that the ancient stones likely came from all over the island of Great Britain. Archaeologists were able to identify a specific stone that is only found in Wales, hundreds of miles from the final site of Stonehenge. The prehistoric people valued the site of this monument so much that they dragged massive stones across miles of forests, hills, and rivers so that they could create their everlasting mark on this world. Because of this almost unbelievable feat of faith, strength, and ingenuity, many of the faithless believe the stones were placed there by aliens, not people just like them.
IV.
Thousands of miles and across an ocean from that monument my family sits on canvas camp chairs around an outdoor fireplace. To celebrate the Solstice like many people before us, we finally tried our hand at a “Yule Log,” though it wasn’t an actual log. We didn’t burn it, it wasn’t the largest log in our house, nor did it lie in wait in our home preparing over the year to be burned in ceremony on the Solstice. It was a cake. Not even one shaped like a log, but we did make it look like wood. I think our ancestors would have enjoyed it, regardless.
V.
Last year, on June 19th, 2024, Stonehenge was vandalized. One day before thousands of people came from all over the world to celebrate and worship the Summer Solstice, two people covered the large stones with neon orange powdered paint, protesting against climate change. Although professionals surmise that there was no lasting damage, these people, in an effort to save the future, attacked our past.
VI.
Months later, in the frigid cold, we sit by the light of a dimming fire on the Winter Solstice and read stories. Modern tales and poems of the ancient rituals of Solstice and winter. We forget about the future for a little while and search for stars in the cloudy sky as we listen to the wintery tales. The same stars that shone above Earth thousands of years ago. The ones that gods lived in and that humans worship. The stars that we spend years building eternal monuments to. Monuments that are so significant that we use them as a platform of protest, destruction, and sacrifice. But for now, we sit around a fire chatting with friends and family, looking forward to the sun rising, ending the longest and darkest of all nights.
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