National Folklore Survey news for the summer solstice

The latest findings from the National Folklore Survey for England - of which the Folklore Society is a project partner - were released this week to tie in with the summer solstice.

The results indicate "that a quarter of people in England today say the summer or winter solstices are of spiritual significance to them personally".

In the results, one in four people also said that they have visited a prehistoric stone circle, and almost 5% of these timed their visit to coincide with a solstice or equinox.

As well as stone circles, three quarters of people had visited a place in England that was associated with a legend or story they had heard or read about. And 40% of people – approximately 16 million people between 16 and 75 – had heard of a story or legend surrounding a spring, cave or other natural feature of their local area.

More details on these findings - with commentary from Dr Diane A. Rodgers, the project's Co-Lead,  - is avaiable on the Survey's website.    

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With the solstice and the natural world in mind, a selection of articles from the back run of our journal Folklore may be of interest:

Billington, S. (2008). The Midsummer Solstice As It Was, Or Was Not, Observed in Pagan Germany, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England. Folklore, 119(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/00155870701806167 

Wallis, R. J., & Blain, J. (2003). Sites, sacredness, and stories: Interactions of archaeology and contemporary paganism. Folklore, 114(3), 307–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587032000145351 

Doyle White, E. (2014). Devil’s Stones and Midnight Rites: Megaliths, Folklore, and Contemporary Pagan Witchcraft. Folklore, 125(1), 60–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2013.860766 

Van Duzer, C. (2008). The Voyage of Trezenzonio to the Great Island of the Solstice: English Translation and Commentary. Folklore, 119(3), 335–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/00155870802352285 

Houlbrook, C. (2014). The Mutability of Meaning: Contextualizing the Cumbrian Coin-Tree. Folklore, 125(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2013.837316 

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Image credit: Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge 2005 (Wikimedia Commons)

Published 24th June 2026