solstice ceremonies
Sun-turning celebrations annually
Solstice ceremonies are rituals or celebrations marking the summer or winter solstice—the longest and shortest days of the year.
Many cultures have observed these astronomical turning points with gatherings, feasts, bonfires, or religious rites.
Modern solstice ceremonies range from pagan observances at sites like Stonehenge to secular celebrations of seasonal change: We attended a solstice ceremony at dawn.
- first lightEarliest morning brightness
- StonehengePrehistoric megalithic circle
- standing stonesUpright prehistoric monuments
- pagan ritesNon-Abrahamic ceremonial traditions
- rebirthSpiritual or physical regeneration
equinox · Saturnalia · fertility rites · altar offerings · tribal drumming · sun worship · solar calendar · seasonal cycles · wheel of the year · moon cycles · Midsummer · zenith · harvest festivals · light and darkness · cosmic balance · axial tilt · tree planting · celestial sphere
- native spiritualitymedicine man, native rituals, vision quest, sweat lodge, medicine men
- nature spiritualitynature worship, pantheism, nature deities, sacred earth, paganism
- Mesoamerican ritualshuman sacrifice, blood sacrifice, bloodletting, ritual offerings, sun worship
- Pueblo culturekachinas, kiva, pueblo, adobe, rain dance
- California TribesMohave, Mojave, Paiute, Washoe, Shasta
- Indigenous SpiritualityGhost Dance, spirit animals, ancestor spirits, vision quest, ancestral spirits
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