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afford ample means of observation. Consequently, we find attempts made 
to explain the name with reference to the rites performed at Avebury. 
Canon Taylor (Word and Places) refers the name to ‘sel,’ the root of the 
German word ‘selig’ meaning ‘blessed, sacred, &c.’ giving the signification 
‘holy-bury.’ He sees the same root in Selly Oak, near Birmingham, 
‘sacred oak.’ This etymology is apparently justified by the following con- 
considerations :—Stukely’s explanation of the plan followed in laying out 
the temple and avenues at Avebury may be taken as substantially correct, 
namely, that we have here the representation of a serpent, the head of which 
was at East Kennet, at a place which is still known as the ‘Sanctuary,’ and 
the end of the tail at Beckhampton, while the Temple at Avebury represents 
the coiled-up middle of the body. But there are two circumstances left 
unexplained: (1) Why does the head lie at Hast Kennet and the tail at 
Beckhampton? (2) How is the direction of the head and tail determined ? 
The answer to both these questions is, 1 think, to be sought for in the 
assumption of a certain connection between sun-worship and serpent-worship. 
Before going into the question as to the direction assumed by the head and 
tail, it may be conjectured that on the occasion of a great religious ceremony 
connected with sun-worship, the procession would be formed at East Kennet, 
where the first rites would be observed at sun-rise, and would then proceed 
to Avebury, where the chief ceremony would be performed when the sun 
at mid-day stood directly over Silbury Hill, finally making its way to Beck- 
hampton, where the last rites would be gone through. The times at which 
the great ceremonies were held may be conjectured to have been the summer 
and winter solstices, and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The chief 
ceremony at Stonehenge, judging from the direction in which the temple 
stands, namely, due East, would take place at the vernal and autumnal 
equinoxes. At Avebury, where the avenues lie to the South-EKast and 
South-West respectively, one of the chief ceremonies would be performed 
at the winter solstice. In support of the theory that a great ceremony was 
also observed at the vernal equinox, it may be remarked that Stukely makes 
the following interesting observation :-—‘The country people have an 
anniversary meeting on the top of Silbury Hill on every Palm Sunday, 
when they make merry with cakes, figs, sugar, and water fetched from the 
Swallow-head or spring of the Kennet’ (p. 43). In this it is easy to observe 
the survival of a pre-historic custom in connection with sun-worship, point- 
ing conclusively to the time of the year at which one of the chief ceremonies 
was performed at the temple of Avebury. On calculating geometrically the 
point on the horizon at which the sun rises on the 21st of December in 
latitude 51°5°, I find it to be approximately 5° E. of S.E., that is, about 50° 
to the E. of the meridian. Now Stukely says that ‘Silbury stands exactly 
South of Avebury, and exactly between the two extremities of the two 
avenues, the head and tail of the snake.’ If then we take Silbury as the 
