THE ULTIMATE
June 20th this year marks the Summer Solstice the longest day of the year for those in the Northern Hemisphere, it is Midsummer.
This is when the Earth is tilted on its axis on its orbit around the sun, so that the North Pole is at its closest to the Sun, For Arctic regions this means they have continuous sunlight for 24 hours! Whilst the Northern Hemisphere, marks Midsummer, in the Southern Hemisphere - for example, for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, it's Midwinter and they are having the their Midwinter, their Winter Solstice. The Summer Solstice in Northern Hemisphere has long been a time of festival and ritual, most famously, at England's Stonehenge, in Wiltshire of Salisbury Plain. There are plenty of other stone mounment aligned with the Solstices across the British Isles, including in Ireland, as well as in Europe, such as in France. Stonehenge, sees hundreds of people attend each year to see the sun rise between one of the stone 'arches' that make the ring of Stonehenge, and over the more distant 'heel' stone outside of the henge. Those that attend may be modern pagan and New Age belief followers, who believe in spirituality associated with nature, many of whom will see themselves as a continuation of an ancient Celtic to Stone Age set of beliefs in Britain that were present before Christianity - they may call themselves Druids. Stonehenge has many numerous theories for why it was built, and how it was built - was it a temple to the sun? was it a place of healing? or was it a place for remembering the dead? Or was it all of these and more? Was it built by magic as suggested by Merlin in Arthurian legend? Or how did the inner smaller 'Bluestones' get from coastal West Wales, in the Preseli Mountains, to Salisbury plain? across the land around 250 miles, or floated on boats around South Wales and South West England, then Northwards across the land to Salisbury Plain? And why at Salisbury Plain - what was special about this area to early Britons? Due to Coronavirus, this year people are not able to visit Stonehenge, but you van witness the sunrise on 21st June (the Summer Solstice sunrise depends on how the days are counted, and there is little difference to the spectacle a day either side) as English Heritage are airing the sunrise live on their Social Media accounts. you can find out more about Stonehenge, and the Solstices at the English Heritage website below - oh, and fingers crossed for a clear sky tomorrow morning! https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/solstice/
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Black History in Britain goes back to before the Anglo-Saxons invaded and settled Britain creating the English. Black people lived in Britain as Roman Citizens during the Roman Empire's control of Britain. As the Roman Empire stretched across Europe and into North Africa, Africans could migrate as citizens, or as soldiers in the Roman Army. There has long been pictorial evidence from Roman Times, but as the BBC article featuring Lavinya Stennett shows archaeological evidence and scientific analysis in 2010 of a Roman woman's skeleton found in 1901, shows that she was born in Britain around 350 AD, and likely of North African descent.
Another fascinating example in the article is the case of John Blanke, Henry VIII's, and Henry VII's trumpeter, shown on a roll at a tournament to celebrate the birth of Henry VIII's scroll, on horseback in a troop of royal trumpeters. Incredibly, further evidence has survived in a petition by John Blanke to the king for a pay rise. The article includes the triumphs of the 1960s Bristol bus boycott, as well as the sadness of the Race Riots that followed the First World War when Black soldiers returned from the front to scapegoated (blamed unfairly) for the economic crises - as well as how slavery was a driving force in the UK's industrial development. Find out more on the BBC with Kameron Virk's article at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-52939694 |
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