Thousands of people greeted the dawn with cheers and applause at Stonehenge on Saturday as they marked the winter solstice.
Those who observed the spectacle at the neolithic monument in Wiltshire encountered a windy morning as they marked the shortest day of the year.
At sunrise at 8.09am, there was a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing. There were less than eight hours of daylight on Saturday but the days now get longer until the summer solstice on 21 June.
Stonehenge was built on the alignment of the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset. It is believed that solstices have been celebrated there for thousands of years.
Chris Smith, 31, who had come to Stonehenge for the winter solstice for the first time, said he was there because of the “spiritual draw of the area”.
The civil servant said: “This is all about renewal, rebirth, we’re entering into the new year, and it’s also a good time to acknowledge what’s taking place in the year that’s been.
“For me, I’ve gone through a bit of a tumultuous year, there’s been lots that has taken place for me in the past 24 months, and this is an opportunity to consolidate everything that has taken place this year and bury that in the past and be able to move forward then into this next new year.”
He added: “There’s such a vibe. I mean, if you look around, you’ve got everybody here, there’s such an energy in the space.
“We have got people here from all walks of life. This is the community. And I think, in today’s age, this is a really important thing to do.”
Julie Hypher said it felt “really important to come and honour the annual cycle”.
The dates of the equinoxes and solstices vary because the Gregorian calendar does not exactly match the length of the tropical year, the time it takes the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun.
To realign the calendar with the tropical year, a leap day is introduced every four years and, when this happens, the equinox and solstice dates shift back to the earlier date.
English Heritage’s Stonehenge director, Steve Bax, said: “It was fantastic to welcome around 4,500 people to Stonehenge this morning to celebrate winter solstice, and we were delighted that more than 100,000 people also watched live online from around the world.
“It was an enjoyable and peaceful celebration despite the sun not making an appearance and it was great to see so many families enjoying themselves around the monument.”
