Tourists on Gran Canaria during December may have been lucky enough to witness one of the more unusual events on the island.

Just as in other parts of the world, the sun played a major part in the location of religious sites and ancient burial grounds on Gran Canaria. On the weekend of the 18th and 19th December 2009, if you were standing at the site of the ancient Necropolis de la Guancha burial ground on the Galdar coast the sun will appear to rise exactly out of the peak of the nearby extinct volcano Pico de Galdar. The area around Galdar has many examples of how the Guanche race lived on the island, including that burial ground and others exhibited in the Archaeological Park of la Cueva Pintada.

Examples of sun worship can be found in ancient Egypt and also in ancient Greece. North American Indians also paid tribute to the sun as part of their culture and, in the UK, Stonehenge has similar origins. The stones at the famous site near Salisbury were constructed so that, viewed from the centre of the circle on the summer solstice, the sun would rise exactly over the Heel Stone on the fourth side, with large trilithons occupying the other three.

The same effect could be experienced on Gran Canaria on both December 18th and 19th, but spectators will have needed to be up early. In order to make seeing the sunrise as easy as possible there was free bus transport to the site leaving from the "Fuente Luminosa" in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at 7:15am. The sun rose at 8:48am. Anyone wishing to make use of the free bus had to register beforehand with the OIAC, the Oficina de Informacion y Atencion in Gran Canaria.

Local actors put on a performance to show what life was like in the days of the Guanches and astronomers from a local Gran Canaria group were also on hand.