Cultural Astronomy is a unifying term coined by Clive Ruggles in the early 1990's to encapsulate all the ways that researchers study the relationship between humans and the sky. Nick Campion provides the following definition: "the use of astronomical knowledge, beliefs or theories to inspire, inform or influence social forms and ideologies, or any aspect of human behavior." Cultural Astronomy is interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary falling easily under science & technology of studies, but researchers are found in many different academic departments. There are four established branches of cultural astronomy: 1) History of Astronomy, 2) Historical Astronomy, 3) Archaeoastronomy, and 4) Ethnoastronomy. I am a cultural astronomer who studies people living today using data collection methods drawn from socio-cultural anthropology which falls under the fourth branch: Ethnoastronomy.
Though people have been studying the relationship between humans and the sky in a scientific manner for more than 100 years, cultural astronomy has only got a foothold in universities during the last 40 years when an occasional archaeoastronomy class or history of astronomy class was offered. The last decade has seen the emergence of graduate programs in Australia, Georgia, and the United Kingdom. There is no degree program in the United States and from the time I started studying cultural astronomy in 1997, I have been kindly but firmly pushed by my colleagues and potential students to create a program in the United States. My progress towards this goal has been good, but I am still in the process of laying the foundations. University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ, is where I am a professor and thus where I am establishing the program. However, I argue that the University of Arizona is the perfect place to have such a program because: 1) Tucson has the reputation for having the highest density of astronomers in the world, which means that my students who want to study astronomers would have plenty to study. 2) Tucson is a dark sky city in that there are strict lighting laws to restrict light pollution. This means that the stars can be seen despite being in a large city. 3) The mountains surrounding Tucson are the home of three observatories: Mt. Lemon, Kitt Peak, and Whipple, which is in close proximity for my students who want to study observatory culture. 4) Tucson is near several First Nation's reservations; including the Tohono O'odam Nation which is where Kitt Peak is located, and we have a growing refugee and immigrant population. This is convenient for my students who want to study star lore in other cultures. 5) The Vatican Observatory offices are at the University of Arizona and there are several priests in residence who study the connections between science and religion, and astronomy and religion. And finally 6) There are several professors at the University of Arizona who study some aspect of cultural astronomy: Richard Poss, Chris Impey, Ed Wright, Dennis Doxtater, and Michael Bonine. For the last several years, working with my UA colleagues, I have been designing a curriculum for a graduate minor in cultural astronomy, as well as creating training experiences for students. Thus far, two of three proposed graduate classes have been taught, and the first Astronomy Study Abroad will take place this December in Ghana.
All this is a long introduction as to why I was invited to dance with witches on the solstice. One of the training experiences planned for 2010 is the very first Cultural Astronomy Field School. It is planned for the month of June 2010, the full four weeks. Working with Clive Ruggles who is an archaeoastronomy expert of the Neolithic period in the British Isles, and Nick Campion who is a historian and religious studies scholar focused on sky related beliefs in modern British culture, we have designed a field school that explores both archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy. The field school includes visits to Stonehenge and Avebury, two of the three largest stone circles in the UK. Students will be trained in the use of archaeological surveying equipment and archaeoastronomical analysis of these ancient sights to identify solar, lunar, and other alignments directed by Dr. Ruggles. The ethnoastronomy research involves studying how people today use these ancient sites directed by me and Dr. Campion. For the last two solstices, I have traveled to the UK to watch what people do at one of the stone circles. We chose a lesser known circle because it attracts hundreds rather than thousands of people, making it manageable for beginning students to study.
People know the June 21st solstice as mid-summer, the summer solstice, or simply the longest day of the year. The position on the horizon where the sun rises and sets changes over the course of the year. The furthest south positions and the furthest north positions are the solstices. In the Northern Hemisphere these are the winter and summer solstices respectively.
The solstice sunrise occurred at 4:58 am on Monday, June 21st, at our location. Dr. Campion and I arrived by car at about 4:45 am. There was already a crowd of people milling about in the standing circle. I recognized one Druid who was carrying a staff with a metal weapon tip at the end from the year before. I did not recognize anyone else. There was a group of six people with camping chairs sitting within the circle already drinking beers, at least one of the people in that group was speaking Italian. There were about five children between the ages of 5 and 10 there with their parents. A group of three women were in their sleeping bags on the far side of the circle. A herd of black and white cows shared the site with us but remained outside of the stone circle.
At about 4:52 am, a man dressed in fatigues announced that if anyone was interested in the ceremony to gather around in a circle. About 40 people gathered within the stone circle creating an inner human circle. He began a ritual that took place in three parts, involved lighting and snuffing candles, and ended with a prayer. He bowed from the waist at the end. Everyone applauded and thanked him for the ritual. Dr. Campion and I remained and watched the goings ons until about 7 am, this consisted mostly of people talking about the ritual and about their individual spiritual practices, those that had spent the night packing up and leaving, more people coming to do smaller rituals, and people walking around the outside of the circle in a ritualistic manner. At 11:30 am, I returned to the circle after getting a couple of hours sleeps with my husband. There was a druid couple doing a ritual in the center of the circle, and two men setting up a makeshift altar on one of the stones. We went to the local pub for lunch, and there were two troupes doing Morris dancing outside of the pub for the solstice. I recognized one of the troupes from the previous year and chatted with them about their plans for 2010. At 2 pm, we left to attend a garden party fundraiser in Bristol with Dr. Campion. He was bummed that he didn't see the noontime activities and though we were both pretty tired, we returned with our spouses to the stone circle around 8 pm. Everything was quiet. A few people were wondering around, the cows were all sitting down, but no one was doing any rituals. We went to the pub, which was also dead. We had a cider then headed back to the stone circle to have one more look. A group of three self identified witches arrived and told us about a ceremony planned for sunset. They were to meet a group of Druids at the stone circle and do a joint ceremony. The Druids hadn't showed up and the witches invited us to join them. They planned to dance in the stone circle at sunset. Dead tired, I made my excuses but did find out that they planned to return the midnight before the solstice and at sunset on the day of the solstice in 2010. The lead witch gave me a leafy crown to wear along with a "Happy Solstice". After observing the solstice in 2008 and in 2009, I am confident that rituals will take place in 2010 which my students can observe. Everyone we talked to about the upcoming field school was very excited and stated that they did not mind at all if the students watched. Some even offered to talk to the students in a classroom setting if we needed them.
Our plans for the 2010 Cultural Astronomy Field School are moving forward!