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Thousands of people cheered and danced around stonehenge As the sun rose over a prehistoric stone circle on Sunday winter solstice,
The crowd, many of whom were dressed in costumes, gathered before dawn and waited patiently in the dark and cold field in the southwest England,
Some sang and beat drums, while others took time to contemplate among the giant stone pillars.
Many people make a pilgrimage to the Stone Circle every summer and winter and consider it a spiritual experience.
The ancient monument, built between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago, was built to align with the movement of the sun at the solstices – key dates on the calendar for ancient farmers.
Sunday is the shortest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the beginning of astronomical winter.
This is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the longest day of the year and summer will begin.
The winter solstice is when the Sun makes its shortest, lowest arc, but many people celebrate it as a time of renewal because after Sunday, the Sun begins to rise again and the days will get a little longer each day until the end of June.
