Drumming Up The Sun

As you may know, today marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. The longest night of the year, the solstice has been celebrated by ancient peoples the world over to mark their gratitude for the fact that sun has once more, risen and wheel of the year is complete. The Winter Solstice marked victory of light over darkness or the end of the cycle of death and decay and the beginning of a new cycle of light, growth and life. It has traditionally been a time for people to celebrate the gradual lengthening of the days and the regeneration of the earth.

Solstice comes from the Latin “sol stetit” which means “The sun stood still.” The sun rises and sets progressively further south on the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere as Winter Solstice nears. For approximately 6 days in late December (and again in late June, the Summer Solstice), the sun appears to rise and set in almost the exact same place on the horizon, hence the name.

The ancient Chinese believed that at sunrise on Winter Solstice, the yang, or masculine principle, was born into the world and would begin a 6 month period of ascendancy. The Hindus (who based their calendar on lunar cycles) held festivals on the solstices and equinoxes too. In India, people greeted the Winter Solstice with a ceremonial clanging of bells and gongs to frighten off evil spirits. In Britain, my old stomping ground, the Druids celebrated the overthrow of the old god, Bran, by the new God, Bel, at the time of the December solstice. Today, here in the Front Range of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, a group of Pagans, Wiccans and other earth-lovers gather at the Red Rocks Park, outside Morrison to participate in Drumming Up The Sun.

Red Rocks Park is a phenomenon created by the forces of nature over the course of some sixty million years. Iron red rocks exploded from the bottom of an ancient sea bed before wind, heat and cold, in addition to our friend the sun combined to sculpture the rocks in a thousand different ways. In 1932 the city of Denver began the process of adapting the natural features of the park into a vast open air theater. Other than the construction of arced rows of seats, this was a comparatively simple process as nature had already done most of the heavy lifting. Three hundred foot monoliths, called Ship Rock and Creation Rock flank either side of the amphitheater and combine to provide near perfect acoustics. Along with the panoramic view of Denver and the western plains, the setting is breathtaking.

This year marked my third Drumming Up The Sun ceremony after I learned of it by accident while eavesdropping on a conversation between two hippies in a coffee shop. In 2002 my friend Kris and I arrived in the middle of the night having no clear idea of what time things got started. It gets chilly during the night in Colorado at this time of year and by the time the sun finally raised its head over the horizon, we were as relieved as any ancient must have been. Although the sky was mostly clear, a thin band of cloud lay on the horizon and obscured most of the sun’s arrival but a wafer thin strip remained clear enough for us to watch its initial appearance. Last year a winter storm sent flurries of snow gusting along the amphitheater steps and the clouds prevented us from determining the exact moment when sunrise occurred. However, we were able to tell from the glow behind the clouds that the event had indeed happened and life would continue for another year.

Driving down the hill this morning, I anxiously scanned the night sky which appeared to be clear but once things began to brighten in the east, saw that once more, a strip of cloud was going to block the view. The good news was that the promised winter storm appeared to be holding off for another day and the temperatures were nowhere near as low as previous years. That said; I was still glad to be wearing every item of warm clothing I possess. Apparently everyone else felt the same way as most of the other people there were shapeless masses in the dark. A couple of years ago a young lady was doing a routine with flaming torches dressed in an outfit so scanty it nearly had me stepping on my tongue but sadly, she was nowhere in sight this year. Two people were dancing with flaming torches, but they were dressed for comfort rather than effect.

I’m not sure who was in charge of setting the tempo but even though everyone was playing their own rhythms the beat was unmistakable. The sound swam around the amphitheater and, magnified by the natural acoustics, simply roared out into the night. Bongos, tom-toms, bodhráns, tambourines and plastic buckets, all throbbing and pulsing to a heart quickening beat. And it wasn’t only drums. Maracas, castanets, cowbells, rainmakers and one guy with a didgeridoo were all contributing to the atmosphere.

One thing about clouds is that they make for spectacular sunrises and this one was a doozy. Fiery streaks of red, orange and gold blazed across the sky and for a long time, an airplane contrail glowed like an arrow of molten steel. It gets light long before the sun actually appears of course, but we were here to drum up the sun and the beat went on. We all knew that if we were to stop, then maybe, just maybe, the sun wouldn’t come up this morning so we were carrying a lot of responsibility.

The drumming had been calm and relaxed for well over an hour but as the sunrise approached, the pulse quickened and increased in volume with the sound of over a hundred drums pounding in unison. We whooped, we hollered and we drummed as loud as we knew how. Eventually, just as it has done every solstice through the millennia, the sun made its appearance in an inferno of golden light. The clouds prevented us from seeing the whole orb, but enough was visible for us to know it was definitely there. We’d done it.

We aren’t the first people to use Red Rocks for solstice ceremonies. Colorado’s original residents held their rituals there too, and some of their descendents were in the crowd this morning. The tradition had been maintained and the wheel of the year will continue to turn.

Happy Solstice everyone.