page_title: The Druid Order
section_title: Public ceremonies
hierarchical_section_title: The Druid Order / Public ceremonies
caption_attribution_description: English: The Druid Order Ceremony at Tower Hill in London City on the Spring Equinox of 2010
context_page_description: The Druid Order is a contemporary druidry fraternal order, founded in 1909 by George Watson MacGregor Reid in the United Kingdom. At various times it has also been known as The Ancient Druid Order, An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas, and The British Circle of the Universal Bond. Initiated members are called companions.
context_section_description: For well over a century, The Druid Order has held Public Ceremonies. One at the Autumn Equinox, one at the Spring Equinox, and one at Summer Solstice. Sometimes the location or time varies due to current circumstance.
  The first public ceremony of the year, the Autumn Equinox, takes place on Primrose Hill in London.
  The second ceremony of the year, the Winter Solstice, passes without a public ceremony.
  
  The third ceremony of the year, the Spring Equinox, is held at Tower Hill in London.
  
  The fourth and final public ceremony of the year is the Summer solstice. This event is marked by three ceremonies at Stonehenge in Wiltshire: a simple ceremony at midnight for the darkest hour, a dawn ceremony marking the rising of the Sun behind the Heel Stone, and a ceremony at noon for the fullness of the light. In recent years these ceremonies have taken place on the night and day following the 'open access' to Stonehenge on Summer Solstice itself.
  The public ceremonies above are, obviously, open to all. Companions of the order dress in white robes and wear a cowl. They process to the place of the ceremony and form a circle with key positions oriented to the cardinal points and the Sun. Most of the ceremonies feature banners, a sword bearer leading the procession, three ladies bearing items in some way related to the season, the blowing of a horn, the reading of a scroll, representations of the elements Earth, Air, Water and Fire, wine or cider, an invocation to East, West, North and South, and words.
caption: Ceremony at Spring Equinox
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