Bee Travel
Stones and stars offer inspiration
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
Iwas out gazing at the stars last night. It was the Vernal Equinox, and there wasn't a cloud in Western New York skies. Venus shone particularly brightly, as if kicked off the end of the slivery boot of the moon, itself a low slung arc whose light somehow suggested the entire orb. It was an awe-inspiring sight, and for a moment I thought it was intended to speak to me.

About what, I haven't a clue. But Stonehenge came to mind, and neopagan rituals so often associated with it. I went in search of the final answer on what Stonehenge is - a girl can try, can't she? - and , as so often is the case, ended up wondering instead what a henge is.

"A henge is a roughly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20m in diameter which is enclosed and delimited by a boundary earthwork that usually comprises a ditch with an external bank." Notably, a henge may include stone circles, but isn't defined as such.

As for Stonehenge, barring any radical new findings, it's currently held that a perhaps pre-scientific notion pointed their construction in alignment with the midwinter solstice sunset, and evidence suggests these were places for funeral rites. Incidentally, the correlation between such stone circles and druids is belied by the fact that the circles are far older than druidism.

While archeologists and that clerisy tease out the dirty, dusty, tedious detail and weave theory, it takes just a few mouse clicks to come up with a variety of sights centered on henges, equinoxes and solstices. There is an American Stonehenge, in Salem, New Hampshire. Built over 4,000 years ago, this place currently holds the rank of the largest and oldest megalithic sign in the U.S. They are holding a Summer Solstice Celebration June 21st of this year. There is Stonehenge, for sure, in Britain. There is another henge 20 miles from Stonehenge, at Avebury, and it's easy to dig up (sorry) more of them in the Orkney Islands, Scandinavia, France, Poland, and even West Africa. A modern henge was built in 2000 to celebrate the millennium - and perhaps taunt some future archaeologist - by some fellows in the Georgian Bay area of Canada.

Henges aside, there are spectacular places to speculate on solstices and equinoxes. Easter Island in the Pacific, the Pyramids at Giza in Egypt, and the Mayan pyramids at Chichen Itza in Mexico... Ancient cultures venerated the sun, moon, seasons birth and death, homage to forces greater than their own. What they left behind, dotted throughout all corners of the world, bedevils our fancy, and in particular at those four date pillars of the year. The summer solstice celebrates the longest day of the year. The winter solstice celebrates the shortest day of the year. The equinoxes celebrate equal parts day and night. These all bespeak fascination in the henges and ancient cultures of the world.

Where would you choose to spend them?

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry in various capacities. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)