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21 December 2012
Last updated at
12:45
In pictures: Stonehenge marks winter solstice
More than 5,000 people gathered at Stonehenge on Friday morning to mark the winter solstice.
The attendance was five times the number that turned out at Salisbury Plain for last year's event.
The large attendance had been predicted as the date coincides with the end of the 5,125-year "long count" cycle of the Mayan calendar.
During the winter solstice, the sun is closer to the horizon at midday than at any other time in the year.
Druids and pagans were among those who headed to Stonehenge to watch the sunrise on the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
The conclusion of the long count cycle of the Mayan calendar is thought by some people to indicate the end of the world.
Although the exact time of the solstice this year - when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun - is at 11:11 GMT, English Heritage provided access to the stones earlier in the morning.
Donna Nicholson from Swindon, who woke up at 03:00 GMT to get to the stones on time, said it had been "exciting" to be there for the "new birth of a new era".
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