Thousands greet the winter solstice at the ancient Stonehenge monument

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Saturday.

Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.

There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June.

The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.

The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?

In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.

That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,

Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

Arthur Pendragon poses for a portrait as he takes part in the winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

A person's face is daubed with blue paint as they take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

A person's face is daubed with blue paint as they take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People take part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People tale part in the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

People take part in the winter solstice celebrations during sunrise at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

People take part in the winter solstice celebrations during sunrise at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP)

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — A week after its worst cyclone in nearly a century, France’s impoverished Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte is still grappling to count the dead, restore essential services and aid a beleaguered population. Already stretched thin, hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering not only from cyclone-related injuries but dehydration, malnutrition and disease.

At Mayotte’s main hospital in the capital, Mamoudzou, doctors face a cascade of crises.

“We lost 40% of patient rooms, about 50 to 60 beds,” said Dr. Roger Serhal, chief of the obstetrics and gynecology department. “There are so many patients coming to the hospital, and we don’t have space to admit them.” As Cyclone Chido battered the archipelago last weekend and 220 kph (136 mph) winds howled around the hospital, Serhal and his team delivered three babies, including by cesarean section.

The hospital’s structural damage has forced staff to triage patients, prioritizing the most severe cases.

Thirty-five people have been confirmed dead as of Friday in Mayotte but French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq has warned that any estimates were likely major undercounts “compared to the scale of the disaster.”

The storm has devastated entire neighborhoods and many people had ignored warnings, thinking the storm wouldn’t be so extreme. Even worse, many migrants avoided shelters out of fear of deportation, authorities said, adding there could be hundreds or possibly thousands of fatalities.

Doctors fear that the lack of clean water and electricity — compounded by overcrowded living conditions — is setting the stage for a health crisis.

“Patients are coming because their illnesses are untreated, there’s no water, and no electricity. We’re concerned about epidemics, like the cholera outbreak we stopped just months ago,” said Dr. Vincent Gilles, the hospital’s emergency medical director.

The hospital staff continues to work tirelessly, but resources are running dangerously low. “If we have rain,” Serhal added, “it will be catastrophic.”

Among the patients struggling to recover was Saindou Mohamadi, 54, who fractured his arm and sprained his ankle during the storm that left his home completely destroyed. Speaking from his hospital bed, Mohamadi expressed despair for his family.

“My mother is sick, I’m sick, and my child is sick,” he said. “They need to eat, but I’m the one who takes care of the food, and now we have nothing.” With six children to support, Mohamadi is among countless residents left homeless and destitute.

“I’m not alone,” he said. “There are many of us who have lost everything — our houses, our food. I want the government to care about us, to give us food and a place to sleep.”

Mayotte is a densely populated archipelago between Madagascar and the African continent of more than 320,000 people, but authorities have estimated another 100,000 migrants live there from as far away as Somalia.

France’s poorest overseas territory long struggled with systemic neglect and underinvestment. Around 75% of its population lives in poverty, and the archipelago’s infrastructure was ill-equipped to withstand a disaster of this magnitude. Chido’s destruction has compounded these challenges, leaving many residents with little faith in the government’s ability to provide timely and adequate relief.

Efforts to deliver emergency aid, including airlifts of water and food, are underway but the scale of the need is staggering. Mayotte’s airport remains closed to civilian flights due to damage, further complicating logistics.

French President Emmanuel Macron, during his visit on Friday, acknowledged the gravity of the situation and pledged to rebuild but faced criticism from residents frustrated by the slow pace of aid.

France's Interior Ministry estimated that 70% of the population has been gravely affected, with many left homeless and vulnerable.

Adamson reported from Paris.

French gendarmes patrol during curfew outside Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

French gendarmes patrol during curfew outside Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

French gendarmes patrol during curfew outside Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

People walk by destroyed homes in the Barakani, Mayotte, informal settlement, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Broken cars are seen in Barakani, Mayotte, France on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

This aerial view shows destroyed homes in the Barakani, Mayotte, informal settlement, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

People line up to collect water in Barakani, Mayotte, home Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

French Civil Security personnel unload water for distribution in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A child's school notebook lays amidst debris in Barakani, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Women wait in line at a water distribution point in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Children stand in the half destroyed house of Zaharia Youssouf in Barakani, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A drone view of the Barakani, Mayotte, informal settlement, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

Resident repair their broken homes in Barakani, Mayotte, home Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

People line up to collect water in Barakani, Mayotte, home Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A man walks in the Barakani, Mayotte, informal settlement, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)

A girl walks amidst destruction in Mbouyougou, Mayotte, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)