LONDON (AP) – Thousands of New Age druids, pagans and revelers celebrated the summer solstice in Stonehenge on Tuesday, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Wiltshire police say about 6,000 people gathered in an ancient stone circle in southern England to watch the sunrise at 4:49 a.m. (3:49 p.m. GMT) on a clear, fresh morning.
Police said the atmosphere was “friendly” and there were only two people arrested – one for assault and one for drug possession.
This was the first time that the merrymakers were allowed to gather for the solstice in 2019. The sunrise was broadcast online in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Stonehenge was built between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago on a windy plain in southwest England by the sun-worshiping Neolithic culture. Experts are still debating its purpose, but it is aligned so that at the summer solstice the sun rises behind the heel stone and the sun’s rays are directed to the center of the circle.
Add Comment