Druids and others gather to watch sunrise on winter solstice

(21 Dec 2012) EARLY MORNING SHOTS 1. Various of people gathered around stones, chanting 2. High shot of crowd, UPSOUND: (English) crowd: “peace throughout the whole world“ 3. Mid of men beating drums 4. Close-up of man 5. Zoom out of men beating drums 6. Various of people listening to drum beat 7. Pan across people gathered around stones DAY SHOTS 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Arthur Uther Pendragon, British druid: “The thing I expect to happen today, apart from this wonderful gathering, is the birth of a new age. And hopefully, let’s go into the new age with new ideas and new thought processes that don’t involve destroying the planet on which we live because this is my goddess.“ 9. Mid of Pendragon 10. Various of people gathered around stones as sun rises 11. Close-up of woman holding crystal 12. Wide of crowd gathered around stones 13. Mid of security personnel 14. Zoom out of man leading group in ritual 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dick Temple, participant: “People got the wrong idea, that it was going to be the end of the world. But it’s not going to be the end of the world. It’s a new beginning, a new time of peace, tranquillity, people are going to connect more to each other, they can connect to the earth.“ 16. Wide of crowd in front of stones STORYLINE: Thousands of people converged on Stonehenge in England on Friday for an “end of the world“ party, which coincides with the Winter Solstice. Organisers said they were expecting a much larger crowd this year because the date marks the end of a 5,125-year cycle of the Mayan calendar. People gathered around the stones at the well-known site, in the county of Wiltshire, to watch the sun rise on the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Across the world’s time zones, there was no sign of the world’s end - even though the end of the Mayan calendar had led some to fear an end of time. One of those who gathered at Stonehenge, Dick Temple, said people had “got the wrong idea.“ “It’s not going to be the end of the world. It’s a new beginning, a new time of peace, tranquility, people are going to connect more to each other, they can connect to the earth,“ he said. British druid Arthur Uther Pendragon added: “The thing I expect to happen today, apart from this wonderful gathering, is the birth of a new age. Let’s go into the new age with new ideas and new thought processes that don’t involve destroying the planet on which we live because this is my goddess.“ The Mayan calendar marks the end of a cycle around 21 December, 2012, which brings the return of Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god associated with war and creation, according to the Mayan’s stone tablet Monument Six. The description was cited by many people as the evidence for the theory of “the end of the world.“ The Hollywood disaster blockbuster “2012“ then added fuel to the fire, making the saying popular across the world. Though the Mayans never really predicted that the world would end on Friday, some people were convinced that humanity’s demise was indeed imminent. In places said to offer salvation from the end, fewer people showed up than officials had claimed. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: