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Misty sunrise for the summer solstice at Stonehenge
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Revelers take photographs as they celebrate the Summer Solstice as the sun rises at Stonehenge, near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, southern England on June 21, 2022. (AFP/Justin Tallis)
T
he sun was long overdue on Tuesday but when it finally appeared, faces lit up and arms rose as one to greet the summer solstice at Britain's most famous prehistoric monument.
The sun was scheduled to come up on the longest day of the year at 4:49 am (3:49 GMT) but was shy in a sky as hazy as the minds of many of the midsummer revellers who spent the night at the sacred site.
Around 6,000 people gathered for the sunrise and sunset at 9:27 pm, according to the site's manager and police, during the first public summer solstice at Stonehenge since the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc in 2020.
Stonehenge was built in stages, from around 3,000 BC to 2,300 BC, and the standing stones are aligned with the movements of the sun.
"We might see it at about 10 o'clock!" joked Jade Tetlon, who made a spur-of-the-moment decision to come with a friend and his daughter for her first solstice at Stonehenge.
Surrounded by soft melodies from flutes, drums, birds singing and sheep bleating but also the trucks rumbling on the main road nearby, Tetlon, 35, immersed herself in the site's unique atmosphere.
The smell of incense and cannabis floated in the air, despite a ban across the country and a sign at the site's entrance.
