In Celebration of the Summer Solstice

Serpent Mound, Ohio.
Image Courtesy of Tim Black.

American Indian Nations created a plethora of astronomically aligned sites within the area that is now Ohio before their forced removal in the 1800s. Their ancient cultures designed many of their sacred and living spaces around reoccurring astronomical events; like that of solar equinoxes and solstices (Serpent Mound and SunWatch Village) or marking the lunar cycle (Newark Earthworks and High Bank Works).* For more information about current celebrations, please contact each removed Nation individually.** Cultures throughout the American continents, not just within the Midwestern United States, designed sacred and living spaces which aligned with solar or lunar alignments; sites which include Watson Break, Cahokia, Chaco Canyon, and Chichén Itzá.

If you wish to attend an event in Ohio planned for the summer solstice
[June 20, 2016], feel free to check out our
 American Indian Events Calendar.

*Designing a landscape or structure to coincide with a celestial event is often referred to as an astronomical alignment. 
** For more information about Historic Nations of Ohio, click here.

For more information,

Visit:

• Native Skywatchers-Earth Sky Connections
• About
• Star Maps
• Ojibwe Sky Star Map
• Ojibwe Constellation Guidebook
• D(L)akota Star Map
• D(L)akota Constellation Guidebook
• Heartland Earthworks Conservancy
• Aligned to the Heavens
• Ancient Ohio Trail
• Serpent Mound
• Newark Earthworks
• Mound City
• High Bank Earthwork
• High Bank Works
• National Park Service
• SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park
• UNESCO World Heritage
• About
• Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy
• What is astronomical heritage?
• Serpent Mound Tentative Nomination
• Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Tentative Nomination
• Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Links Page
• National Museum of the American Indian 
• Circle of Dance Online Exhibit
• Quechua Danza de Tijeras (Scissor Dance)
• Living Maya Time: Sun, Corn, and the Calendar Online Exhibit
• Youtube
• The Great Inka Road: the Cosmological Alignment of Buildings
• The Great Inka Road: Three Levels of the Inka Universe at Saqsaywaman
• The Living Road, a Short Story in Three Parts
• Produced for the exhibition "The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire"
• Star Stories
• The Solstice Project
• Ziibiwing Cultural Center
• Noongwa e-Anishinaabemjig
• 2008 Summer Solstice at the Sanilac Petroglyphs
• Chimney Rock National Monument, Colorado
• Archaeoastronomy
• explOratorium
• Chaco Canyon
• Fajada Butte (Sun Dagger)
• National Weather Service
• The Seasons, the Equinox, and the Solstices
• refers to 'movement' of the Sun
• Ojibwe Cosmos: Mercury in Retrograde, Earthly Stardust and Intricate Stellar Maps
• April 25, 2016.
• First Day of Spring Marked with Sun Daggers, Light Snakes
• April 22, 2016.
• It's the winter solstice! 10 Things to Know about Sunwatch
• December 21, 2015.
• Celestial Timekeeping
• April 8, 2015.
• Alligators and Groundhogs
• March 18, 2015.
• Newly-Discovered Hopewell Mound Group Woodhenge Found to be Solstice Aligned
• July 21, 2014.