Last year it was 21,000.
They are a bunch of airheads who have no respect for history.
They are not Pagans, they are so-called Neo-pagans, which is a purely new religious movement which bears no relationship to the Stones, their makers or the beliefs they once had.
The only one’s there with any sense of tradition are the Druids, who can trace their own history a full 150 years!
But even their beliefs have no connection with the Stones, based on a complete misunderstanding by Stukeley’s of the Stone’s history.
I suppose we should be grateful that they have not repeated the human sacrifice that most likely once occurred there to appease the gods and to keep the seasons going with weather favourable to the agro-economy of the makers.
It ought to be enough to understand that when the religious practices ended there long before recorded history that the earth and sun continued to move in the heavens regardless of the complete cessation of the rituals designed to keep them going.
You seem to be privy to information regarding the use of the stones that no one else knows.
Did you go, Maia?
Unfortunately not, I’d love to though.
I studied archaeology at degree and post-grad level for 6 years. But I suppose you think that is a waste of time?
Here’s a question about “privy” information. If you asked each of the 37,000 people that you claim visited the Stones on the 21st, how many do you really think would call themselves “Pagans”?
And how many had actually read all the serious study around the monument, or even have the slightest idea of their construction and original purpose? And who among them even care?
I saw Julien Richards’ program the other night, some twat it a King Arthur suit, said that the stones were built by the founders of the Nation.
It’s ridiculous. A wilful ignorance of history. No one can tell the genealogy of the makers but there is one thing we can be sure of - they did not found the nation. One thing is for sure though, England, Britain, call it what you will had absolutely no meaning to them, and could not have had.
“England” is Germanic; “Britain” is what the Romans called it.
The seed of those makers; literal, abstract, cultural or religious does not contribute to any part of our Nation today. Their past is a very long time ago, and all the “traditions” that have grown up about the Stones are completely MODERN.
It was on all the news sites, it wasn’t my claim that 37,000 people visited it. The news stories also emphasised the Pagan aspect, so I would say that most of the people there were probably Pagans.
If you have studied archaeology, can you explain what the evidence is for your assertion that the people who built Stonehenge believed that if they didn’t carry out the rituals the sun and the seasons would stop?
I also don’t remember ever claiming that modern Paganism is not modern.
If Pagans are a New Religious Movement why have they tried to claim Stonehenge as their own?
You you take your information from the News?
PLONK!
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You haven’t answered my question. What is it about the archaeology of the site that allows you to conclude that the people who built Stonehenge believed that if they didn’t do the rituals, the sun and seasons would stop?
I plan to travel to England someday and visiting Stonehenge is definitely a part of that trip. I know I would be a tourist, but I hope the site isn’t too touristy if you know what I mean. Some places you just want to take in without a noisy crowd in the background. I don’t want to feel like I’m at an amusement park, you know.
Unfortunately Stonehenge is very touristy, surrounded by fences and people, and usually you can’t even touch the stones. The only time the fences come down is at the solstices. Avebury, on the other hand, has free access and is far less crowded.
Where there is no textual evidence, social theory and reconstruction, apply the principle of cultural analogy. The practice of ritual sacrifice, was ubiquitous in the ancient world , and at many other times in history. In all pre-christian examples I can think of the presence of the type of altar, and waist height was always accompanied by ritual slaughter.
And although Stonehenge was not built by the Druids, they too were identified by the Roman writers as responsible for human sacrifice. Additionally there is much surviving evidence of this practice throughout pre-christian Europe preserved in bog-bodies and folk history.
You ought to acknowledge that Christianity itself is a religion based on human sacrifice.
I wasn’t asking about ritual sacrifice, but about the belief that if they didn’t do their rituals, the sun and seasons would stop, which you asserted, citing your archaeological expertise. I’d like to know what evidence there is for this.
Ritual sacrifice of animals is indeed ubiquitous in ancient cultures, and the animal was then eaten afterwards in a communal feast.
I’ve not been since I was a child, so not sure. I understand it used to be very disappointing. However, there have recently re-built the visitors centre, taken down all of the fences put up by Thatcher to stop hippies enjoying themselves and things are much better now.
One thing you won’t get - a Disney experience. British Museums and cultural exhibitions are most generally sober and educational.
Do not go near the solstices or the equinoxes - that’s when it is descended upon by nut cases.
Aside from that, acknowledge that the Stones were brought al the way from South Wales, quarried, shaped and moved without any iron tools. And the Blue Stone is particularly hard stuff too (musta ben dem aliens wot done it).
Appeasing the gods is part of the priestly power, its just standard practice. It’s likely that the brits did exactly what the Egyptians did, and there was much hullaballo on the inter-calliary days to ensure good harvest, the return of the season and the continuation of the turn of the year.
Phase One of the construction is a very wide circle of smaller stones, placed at a diameter of around 100 meters. Most people don’t know they exist and were unknown to science until fairly recently.
The thing that is significant about them is the fact that there are 60. This number is important because ancient Babylon and Egypt both used the sexigesimal numbering system; that’s base 60, rather than our based 10.
The year was divided into 360 days, that 6 x 60. That leaves 5 and bit days left over. Stonehenge is a massive lunar and solar clock and during those five or six days, the priests would make rituals to find out and when the new year would start, and to ensure everything went okay.
The sixty stones could be a co-incidence - but really???
So in other words, no evidence at all.
Phase One of the construction is a very wide circle of smaller stones, placed at a diameter of around 100 meters. Most people don’t know they exist and were unknown to science until fairly recently.
The thing that is significant about them is the fact that there are 60. This number is important because ancient Babylon and Egypt both used the sexigesimal numbering system; that’s base 60, rather than our based 10.
The year was divided into 360 days, that 6 x 60. That leaves 5 and bit days left over. Stonehenge is a massive lunar and solar clock and during those five or six days, the priests would make rituals to find out and when the new year would start, and to ensure everything went okay.
This phase co-incides with the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt.
The sixty stones could be a co-incidence - but really???
Do you think they went to all that bother dragging the stones from Wales just to sing and dance?
It is a calendrical marker. This does not mean that they thought the sun would stop if they didn’t do the rituals, as you asserted.
Not a scrap of hard evidence except the placement of the stones themselves.
But there is a lot to demonstrate that view. Priests are priests, and they work out the best ways to make themselves indispensable. This is exactly what the role of the priesthood was in Egypt at exactly the same time. And when you have studied Archaeology and anthropology for as long as I have you get to understand human frailty and belief.
But I don’t expect you to want to listen. You’d prefer to believe the modern mumbo-jumbo of new-age tree huggers.
Your argument is merely one of analogy with Egypt, and if you had really studied archaeology, you would know that this is unnacceptable as evidence.