Crowds flock to solstice

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Sunday 23rd Dec 2007.

Hundreds of people gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate the winter solstice at sunrise.

A crowd of Druids, pagans and tourists braved the fog and cold at the prehistoric site on Saturday to witness the light shine through the ancient stones.

The winter solstice is a pagan celebration which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

It is held to mark the point in the year that the sun is furthest away from the observer on its axis. In the northern hemisphere this happens some time between December 20 and 23.

About 500 people are thought to have attended the celebration.

The Reverend Lakshmi Love, a shaman, said the winter solstice was the most important of the four, because it announced the return of the sun.

Mr Love, from Glastonbury, said he was 36 in human years but believed himself immortal.

"I'm an ordained priest in the universal Life Church, a Shaman and a practitioner of tantric yoga," he said. "I've been coming here for many years to help the druids.

"Being a Celt I come to celebrate all four parts of the solstice, and I think today is the most important one, because it heralds the return of the sun."

The summer solstice tends to draw larger crowds; more than 20,000 people usually attend the celebrations.

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