Summer Solstice Celebration at Stonehenge

For those of us living in the tropics, season changes and season solstices do not hold much or any significance because we get the same weather conditions all-year-round. Flowers bloom throughout the year, the sun shines almost everyday and rain comes and goes as and when.

Winter solstice, however, is celebrated by the Chinese community. This is not a religious celebration but one that is celebrated as part of the Chinese custom. It is celebrated either on 21 or 22 December every year.

Summer solstice has just passed us by. Do you remember what you did on June 21? Summer solstice that falls on this date is the longest day of the year and the sun is at its highest point in the sky in the northern hemisphere. I remember it was a cloudy day and I was trying to spot the other sun but no such luck.

Summer solstice is celebrated with much pomp and splendour at Stonehenge in Wiltshire county north of Salisbury, England. Usually roped off, the prehistoric monument site is opened to visitors for the summer-solstice celebrations where druids, revelers and tourists gather at the ancient stone circle.

Stonehenge and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. The site is believed to be built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. Archaeological evidence indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings according to Wikipedia.

For this year's Summer solstice 2011, more than 18,000 people gathered for the celebrations in southern England.

Have you been to Stonehenge? What's it like to be there?

Here's a map of Wiltshire showing the location of Stonehenge - Wikipedia.

More pictures of Summer Solstice at Stonehenge from TIME magazine..