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Grand Jaguar pyramid a day before the Oxlajuj Baktun celebration at the Tikal Mayan ruins in Peten
Grand Jaguar pyramid a day before the Oxlajuj Baktun celebration at the Tikal Mayan ruins in Peten Reuters

Ceremonies have been taking place across the globe as the Mayan long count calendar comes to an end.

Time is running out for the end of the world - although it was supposed to be at 11.30am GMT, a time now safely passed.

A small mountain village in France has been the focal point of worried doomsayers desperate for salvation - from alien rescuers. Elsewhere around the world, more traditional ceremonies have marked and celebrated 21 December - the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice and shortest day of the year.

In South and Central America, Mayans held ceremonies to mark the end of the 13th Baktun, a period of around 400 years. In total, the long count calendar spanned over 5,000 years.

In Alta Verapaz in Guatemala there was the pre-Hispanic 'Welcome of the Grandfather Sun and of the Sacred New Fire to Humanity'. At the Grand Jaguar pyramid, a celebration was held at the Mayan ruins.

Others flocked to the French mountain town of Pic de Bugarach. New Agers believe aliens are hiding in the mountain and when the world ends, they will leave in spaceships, rescuing humans nearby.

French authorities urged people not to visit the small village, at it could not cope with the influx. Access to the mountain was also closed off.

At the pyramid-shaped Serbian mountain of Rtanj, around 125 miles from Belgrade, people gathered in an effort to save themselves from the apocalypse.

Believers think Rtanj is one of the best places to go because the mountain - which is thought to have been created by aliens - will emit a force field when the end comes, protecting people near it.

Meanwhile, in the UK, revellers and druids gathered at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to celebrate the solstice.

Merry Apocalypse!

Mexico