Thousands of revellers gathered at Stonehenge in the early hours of Sunday morning to celebrate the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

Crowds amassed in the dark around the historical site in Wiltshire to watch the sunrise, with some dressed in traditional pagan clothing, just as they did to mark the sun rising on the summer solstice six months ago.

During the winter solstice, which happens typically on 20, 21 or 22 December each year, the sun is at its lowest arc in the sky all year and can be seen through the south-eastern arches of Stonehenge, the great trilithon, with other parts of the structure also aligned to meet the sunrise.

The exact length of the day during the solstice depends on how far north or south you are, with the majority of Britain getting about seven hours of sunlight. The people of Land’s End, Cornwall, get just more than eight hours and in Shetland, Scotland, there is only about five and a half hours.

At Stonehenge, people converged from different corners of the world to celebrate the solstice together on Salisbury plain. Win Scutt, who works as a curator at English Heritage and supervises events around Stonehenge, welcomed people to the gathering.

“There’s just such a fantastic atmosphere here, so many different people, different kinds of people as well, many pagans, druids, all sorts of people,” Scutt told Hits Radio.

“It’s got that power, hasn’t it, this incredible sight, that it draws people from all different walks of life. There’s something about Stonehenge that appeals to people in so many different ways and it’s lovely to share that.”

For Bradley O’Neill, witnessing the solstice was a dream come true. O’Neill, who had travelled to Britain from Australia, told the BBC that experiencing the solstice at Stonehenge had been on his bucket list.

“I just like old mysteries. The world is full of questions and I’m not going to get many answers either, but I’m sure going to see something special,” O’Neill said. “Today we get to touch the stones and feel the energy. The presence they have, it’s actually fantastic. I feel special, in my heart.”

For Golnar Pooya, celebrating the solstice at Stonehenge held special meaning. Pooya identifies as a Persian Zoroastrian, which is recognised as one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, whose members have celebrated the solstice for more than 2,500 years. She said she and her family usually celebrated at home in America, and this was her first time attending the celebrations in England.

“We stay up all night, we have a lot of pomegranates – which symbolise birth, rebirth and life, and we gather with family, we read poetry until the sun rises, and the celebration is that the darkness is now over,” said Pooya.

“For us it’s not a religious event, it’s more a tradition. It’s spectacular to see so many people from so many different cultures coming together, from so many different regions, just to see the sun rise and light come back to Earth.”