Revelers gather for summer solstice
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A reveller faces the sunrise during the Summer Solstice ceremonies at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, Monday June 21, 2004. The stone circle at Stonehenge is believed to be at least 4,500 years old. (AP Photo/John D McHugh)
STONEHENGE, England -- More than 20,000 New Age followers, self-styled druids and other revelers celebrated the summer solstice at this ancient stone circle Monday, dancing to drums and holding aloft flaming torches.
After a cool, wet night, the crowd cheered as the sun broke through cloudy skies more than a hour after dawn on the northern hemisphere's longest day.
"The fire symbolically welcomes the sun for the longest day of the year, part of the seasonal wheel which we as druids and pagans celebrate," said a man calling himself King Arthur Pendragon. "It's not a day in church for us, it's a celebration."
English Heritage, which runs Stonehenge, estimated the crowd at 21,000. Police said they arrested a few participants for public order offenses.
Stonehenge - the remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. - is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions and a spiritual home for thousands of self-styled druids and mystics.
The stones, 80 miles southwest of London, reopened to the public for the summer solstice in 2000, after being closed following violence between police and revelers in 1985.
~"I question not if thrushes sing, If roses load the air; Beyond my heart I need not reach When all is summer there."
Author: John Vance Cheney
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A reveller faces the sunrise during the Summer Solstice ceremonies at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, Monday June 21, 2004. The stone circle at Stonehenge is believed to be at least 4,500 years old. (AP Photo/John D McHugh)
STONEHENGE, England -- More than 20,000 New Age followers, self-styled druids and other revelers celebrated the summer solstice at this ancient stone circle Monday, dancing to drums and holding aloft flaming torches.
After a cool, wet night, the crowd cheered as the sun broke through cloudy skies more than a hour after dawn on the northern hemisphere's longest day.
"The fire symbolically welcomes the sun for the longest day of the year, part of the seasonal wheel which we as druids and pagans celebrate," said a man calling himself King Arthur Pendragon. "It's not a day in church for us, it's a celebration."
English Heritage, which runs Stonehenge, estimated the crowd at 21,000. Police said they arrested a few participants for public order offenses.
Stonehenge - the remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. - is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions and a spiritual home for thousands of self-styled druids and mystics.
The stones, 80 miles southwest of London, reopened to the public for the summer solstice in 2000, after being closed following violence between police and revelers in 1985.
~"I question not if thrushes sing, If roses load the air; Beyond my heart I need not reach When all is summer there."
Author: John Vance Cheney
posted by Lynne at 6/21/2004 09:20:00 AM
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