Once upon a time during the winter solstice, the Friends of Serpent Mound, a group of supporters who donated time and labor to the site’s upkeep, were allowed to light up and honor Serpent Mound with sand bagged votives (pictured above). The winter solstice, of course, is the shortest day of the year and thus the longest night of the year.

This event – that some called the “Lighting of the Serpent” – drew more people to this marvel of ancient times than all the other days of the year and all combined at its peak. Fascinating is how one of the Serpent’s coils aligns with the Winter Solstice sunrise while its head aligns with the summer solstice sunset.

However, the winter solstice lighting was discontinued about a decade ago. An indigenous tribe, the Eastern Shawnee of Oklahoma, who once lived in Ohio for about 30 years (1750-1780), complained that it was sacrilegious to do this because there was no proof that the ancients who built the mound did any such thing. Not that they would actually know, since there is no evidence of any ancestral connection between these Shawnee and the people from 2,000-years previous who created it. No oral history. No written accounts, nothing. Poorly written Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) laws intended to protect indigenous burial remains and artifacts are directly to blame. And so, a needless drama that continues to this day began.

The site’s owner and caretaker, The Ohio History Connection (OHC), both anxious to make positive connections with indigenous cultures and to try to eradicate a well-earned reputation as graverobbing profiteers for 200-some years, agreed to stop the practice – ostensibly based on the Oklahoma Shawnee’s claims of blasphemy to “their” sacred site.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently added Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks to its World Heritage list, a monumental achievement for the OHC. But just one year before UNESCO’s designation, the OHC removed its Native American and mound-builder artifact exhibit from the Ohio History Center. A move which in some ways mirrors canceling the “Lighting of the Serpent.”

Does anybody see the votive-outline Serpent Mound, and shout “How blasphemous”? The first year after the winter solstice cancelation, the OHC planted a half-dozen Dollar General tiki lamps around the grounds. “Much more authentic,” they apparently reasoned. The following year and ever since then, nothing.

Nowadays nothing is done to honor Serpent Mound at winter solstice to bring the attention it deserves worldwide. Meanwhile walkways, an observation tower, parking lots and a shamble of a “museum” crumble and rot from disrepair while the OHC charges $10 a car “for upkeep” and maintain absurdly limited visitation hours. Asphalt paths (and don’t you DARE step off into grass!) crumble and the tower from which all can be seen rusts to where it is unsafe and indefinitely cordoned off.

I miss the memories of joy, seeing this beautiful annual tribute to a true world wonder. Such a shame it had to end.

The Free Press ran a story last year about the cancellation of the winter solstice event at Serpent Mound, publishing quotes from members Friends of the Serpent Mound. We would like to re-publish them here, as their sentiment and sincerity sound timeless:

“In ancient times, the marking of seasons was very important to most cultures. The winter solstice marked the worst time of year. Darkness, sickness, frequent death, but the solstice activities gave our ancient brothers and sisters hope for the coming of warmer brighter days ahead,” wrote Friends of Serpent Mound member Tom Oyer.

“I completely understand the need to protect heritage, however, would our ancestors have not embraced at least some progress?” asked Sherry Ahrmann Peterson. “Or understood that to some of us descendants that lighting the candle is to honor our ancestors? To take a moment in our extremely rushed world to honor our loved ones with light is an amazing and soul filling sensation.”

“Friends of Serpent Mound has asked to have Native input,” wrote Walter Jefferson. “We have stood before OHC and stated they should be getting Native input. I am always asking Natives that attend our events, are we doing anything that we should change? And they appreciate what and how we do what we do. We are not plastic shamans, or fake Indians. We love the park and its history. We respect the ancient ones who built it. We ask Natives to come and show others how to respect the area and the land. Some came and others criticize. We ask those that criticize to come but they refuse to come and teach. Why?”