Summer Solstice Ritual

Thomas Doty – Storyteller

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For centuries, near Tule Lake, an ancient ritual was acted out with the solstice sun and a rock painting. The symbols tell this story: "At this place, on the longest day of the year, the sun rises over the eastern hills and shines just to the right of the cave entrance." In 1993, an earthquake shifted the rock that shaped the sunlight into a finger that pointed to the symbols and marked the solstice. The rock needs to be propped back up for the ritual to happen again.