On the back of the solstice discussions, I am wondering why people usually (if not always) want to celebrate the sun rising. For example, Stonehenge (one theory has it) was built to help predict eclipses of the moon. There is no conclusive evidence, is there, that it was meant for a midsummer sunrise ceremony?

My feeling about midsummer is that it's a time to celebrate light and heat - everything is expanding outwards in the bliss of the sun's radiance - and so, would it not be more appropriate to celebrate at midday, rather than at sunrise?

Midwinter is another matter - the sunrise then would signal the end of the longest night. It seems reasonable to me to spend the whole of the midwinter night in going down into the darkness before awaiting and greeting the first rays that indicate the darkness will not go on for ever. Not that I've ever done this, but it would make a really powerful ritual, I think.

Does everybody just jump on the bandwagon of celebrating the sunrise because it appears a cool thing to do, to be up so early? Or is there some deep significance independent of fashion?

Persactly Julai. I hold my Litha Ritual at Noon too

And from experience, Wolvie holds his Beltane ritual at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon!

But seriously, I remember many years ago, it was "common knowledge" that at sunrise on midsummer's day the rays of the rising sun cast a shadow from one of the Stonehenge stones right across the altar....

And this was how the druids of 10,000 years ago had planned it....

And this idea seems to be stuck in people's minds, that the time to be at Stonehenge, or any other henge, is at sunrise on midsummer's day - whatever that is.

Maybe it's just a good excuse for an all night party.

But I agree that sunrise at mid-winter would make sense.

(It's also a lot more convenient. Get up, have a bath, make breakfast, read the paper, go and see the sunrise, do ritual, oh look it's lunchtime, blimey it's getting dark, must be time for a pint.)

We only celebrate as a family or in a small group of friends. We go and watch the sunrise (although we've missed the last 2 Solstices due to having a small boy). Any ritual or celebration usually takes place early evening followed by a big feast So it lasts the whole day really.

i do what I like, sometimes thats early morning, or evening, sometimes night time. I do it when i feel like it - when it seems right.

fizz

I've never celebrated at sunrise...always evening.

For me it's a matter of convenience. If you want to mark a specific point, then it's easier to tell when the sun rises and sets than it is to pick the exact time when it's at it's highest or the astronomically exact point of solstice. Saying that, I find that the most important thing is a bunch of people getting together to mark something and it's easier to get people together for sunrise or sunset than the middle of the day.

Winter Solstice at sunrise, definitely. It's a treat at Avebury, even though the sun doesn't always show, particularly.

Imbolg at dawn, ideally, and Ostara too, as Ostara IS the Goddess of the dawn.

Midsummer at sunset for me - it's the sun descending into the crone part of the year - it seems appropriate.

Samhain at sunset too, when the new day begins - and the fireworks are at their best.

Lammas at midday. With any luck it should be too hot to be doing anything else. Although this year our moot will be having a firepit night.

Bealtaine should be celebrated all through the night, traditionally... starting at sunset...

Litha ... I've never done anything for Litha, ever, This year may be a first.

When I first came on line I discovered to my consternation that there were things known as "pagan Festivals."

I had considered myself a pagan simply because of the things I believed (or rather didnt) but actually didnt know that there were set days where "real" pagans went and partied. Of course I knew about the summer solstice, its a bit hard to miss living where I do, but I never knew such things had a fancy name.

I had always "celebrated" may day and enjoyed maypole and what have you. For me it was also one of those times I felt the veil between the living and the dead was thinner than usual. Same for Halloween, it was then that I honoured my dead, but thought it was actually a remnant of Christianity.

So that was a long way of saying I dont celebrate as such.

When I see the colours change in the land I give a passing nod to autumn and when I see the lambs in the fields I smile and remember spring. Or when the farmers are in the fields on their combines all night then I know its harvest.

All of these things I recognise and actually give thanks for but I'm afraid I very often forget when the actual festival dates occur and thats despite trying very hard to learn them way back when I found out I wasn't a proper pagan

I had similar problems when I discovered I wasn't a "proper" witch as well, but thats another story .............

Another thing about looking forward to the sunrise on a specific day is that you may not get much of a sunrise. The one time I made an effort and dragged hubby up a hill to see the sun rise at midsummer, it was too misty to even glimpse the sun. What happens then, eh? Whereas if you pick a day that feels right, it can be more meaningful...but of course you can't plan a group festival on that basis.

when i can fit it in around work,kids etc!!

Frankly I don't go for any of this trendy "proper" pagan or witchcraft rhetoric. Being the bog standard that I am, I prefer to stick to good old German agrarian tradition- which in my experience, makes alot more practical sense of natural order. This, however, is my opinion and what others choose to do is their business.

Sunrise and sunsets have regained importance more recently because with a 9-5 culture very few people actually get to witness a sunrise, or even remember to look up to see the moon or have opportunity to be somewhere dark enough to properly see the stars.

When effort is required to defy our man-made artificial light triggered bodyclocks and we are not involved with some other immediate task, this indeed does for many become a special event.

I do like to celebrate them, but its something minor and very personal. Its a good time to look forward to for setting aside time to be used for remembering all the positive things, beings and people who got me to that point and all the beneficial times in my life.

Its something I should remember more often but I frequently don't so several days that everyone in a forum like this discusses up to the event gets me looking forward to it and prevents me from forgetting.

If its in the winter and I'm likely to see it, I'll watch the sun rise and set. Summer is harder so I'll enjoy the warmth of the sun and mull over the season to come. Otherwise I'll enjoy the beauty of the day. But I try to do that every day.

First of all, Heathen festivals are slightly different. You have your Gods based ones and then the ones that are more to do with stuff like the end of summer/start of winter, midsummer, midwinter blah blah blah. So there isn't always the same consideration when it comes to time of day.

I do my fainings usually in the evening because that's when I feel more like doing it and it's far better to be into it rather than dragging yourself into doing something just because you feel like you have to.

I think that the optimal time of day for doing stuff varies from person to person.

I prefer the late afternoon or evening for more relaxed activities. Morning for quick blitzes.

Although I do like to make my daily offerings first thing in the morning when no one is up and about besides me and very importantly, no one has irritated me yet I can enjoy the moment and feel more confident in it being less impinged upon by my emotions, espicially stress.