The Origin of Advent, and other Three Weeks' Celebrations

Abstract

FROM a series of measurements of solstitial monuments in Cornwall and Wales, Sir Norman Lockyer has advanced the theory that such monuments were erected, not so much to mark the exact solstice, as to give ample warning of that phenomenon. I have suggested from evidence in connection with fairs that the period of warning was three weeks, and Mr. W. E. Rolston finds measurements of three solstitial alignments, two at Tregaseal and one at Longstone, marking sunrise three weeks before the solstice.