Litha & the Acoustics of Stonehenge
Summer is here. The trees are in full bloom, bird song can wake you up at 4:30am and most people, well those of us living in northern Europe are happy to see the Sun return - giving us a much needed dose of vitamin D. Cultures across the world come together to celebrate the solstice with dancing, feasting, music and ceremony. It is a time to celebrate the power of the Sun.
Neo Pagans and Wiccans refer to the summer solstice as Litha, which is celebrated in the northern hemisphere between 20 and 22 June. On the Wheel of the Year it is one of the four solar festivals, the others being Ostara, Mabon and the Winter Solstice. The date of the festival varies each year as it depends on when the Sun reaches its most northerly point on the celestial equator. This year the Sun reaches its zenith on 20 June and marks the longest day of the year.
Ancient civilisations across the world celebrated the Solstice and they had special knowledge about cosmology. For example, in Egypt, the Sun perfectly aligns with the western gate of Karnak Temple, throwing light on the temple of Amon Ra. A popular place to celebrate the festival in the UK is Stonehenge in Wiltshire, which was constructed in phases between 3100 BC and 1600 BC. Today, people from all over the world come together at sunrise, to watch the Sun ascend over the Heel Stone.
Stonehenge is placed on 14 ley lines perhaps adding to its immense power and archaeologists believe ancient people would have carried out rituals there. The circular construction also has acoustics effects and creates resonance. Dr Rupert Till from the University of Huddersfield has been studying the acoustics of Stonehenge for a number of years and has carried out scientific investigations using different frequencies of sound in the centre of the site. Certain sound frequencies create a throbbing noise similar to a bass drum, which he has described as being like a deep bass synthesiser. How cool is that?! He has also discovered that when Stonehenge would have been used for ritual in prehistoric times, it would take approximately 100 drummers playing on handheld prehistoric clay drums to make the place ring.
“Sound would have been part of a ritual, as it is in most cultures” Dr Till, (The Sky at Night, BBC, Youtube)
That’s it for this post. There are loads of articles online about the traditions associated with the festival and I don't want to regurgitate the same information. So for the summer solstice this year, listen to some music that warms your soul, bask in the sun and welcome in the summer.
Happy Solstice everyone!
Bibliography
Transcript, Hearing the Past, Open University, Dr Rupert Till and Jim Al-Khalili
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDN__4yhH5I
https://cairoscene.com/buzz/summer-solstice-illuminates-karnak