Extending hugs to beaming passers-by, Laura Tungate, a 26-year-old financial advisor from Newcastle, who has been coming to the solstice ceremony for the past eight years, said:
“Happy solstice!”
It was the longest day of the year and many people other than Laura assembled near Stonehenge to welcome the sun on Thursday.
The crowd included a group of druids clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves, who cheered and danced at the Heel stone, a pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument.
Stonehenge, one of the 20 monuments competing to be named one of the new seven wonders of the world in a massive online poll, was built on the Salisbury Plain 80 miles southwest of London between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C. Though its original purpose is a mystery, some experts say that the monument’s builders aligned the stones as part of their sun-worshipping culture.
A huge assembly of 24,000 people gathered at the stone circle in Wiltshire, in southwestern England. As floodlights bathed the ancient pillars in pink and purple hues, revelers danced to the sounds of drums and whistles.
In the pre-Christian era, solstice celebrations were highly anticipated. Bonfires, maypole dances, and courtship rituals continue as hangovers from Europe’s pagan past in many countries.
In the recent years, however, the World Heritage Site has attracted men and women wanting to have a good time or those seeking a spiritual experience.
Unfortunately the celebrations tend to get spoiled when troublemakers join in. The site was closed in 1984 by police following repeated clashes with revelers. Complete access to the Stonehenge resumed in 2000 after the permission of English Heritage, the monument’s caretaker.
Other countries celebrate the solstice with equal elan though most postpone it until the last weekend in June. While Swedes will indulge in spiced schnapps, Danes will light bonfires, and Balts and Finns will throng to the countryside to make merry under the midnight sun in one of the most important holidays of the region.
Image: Cache
