The Wedding                     

The Ring of Brodgar, the Stenness Stones and Odin Stone are often referred to as

“The Wedding”

The Ring of Brodgar, or, “Temple of the Sun,” Sits on a thin Strip of land bordered by the salt-water Stenness Loch and fresh-water Harray Loch on Orkney Island, Scotland.

A ring of thirty-six stones, with twenty-seven of them still standing, are what remain of the original sixty, erected as early as 3,000 BC.

Less Than a mile south stands the Stenness Stones, or “Temple of the Moon.” The Odin Stone, often called Wooden’s Stone, originally stood just north of the Stenness Stones.

As part of the Orcadian wedding tradition, a couple wishing to become engaged, would first visit the Ring of Brodgar, where the man vowed his love to his bride-to-be. Then together they walked to the Stenness Stones where she would do the same. They then walked a short distance to the Odin Stone, and while kneeling from opposite sides, the couple held hands through the opening of the stone, and thus declared their love to each other. This rite was binding as any mortal law.

The Wedding symbolizes the perfect union of love, with the Odin Stone in the foreground of the trio, and the reflections of the Ring of Brodgar and the Stenness Stones in the heavenly background where they both mirror and harmonize each other.