Traditionally around the 21st December, some cultures celebrate over a longer period until the 31st December.

The winter solstice is a time for festivities and for the bringing in of the evergreen into the house to show that the new year will come.

At Yule The Sun God is reborn and the days begin to lengthen. The Oak King (light), brother to the Holly King (dark), is reborn and defeats the Holly King to rule until Midsummer. The Wild Hunt, started at Samhain, is now at its height and anyone unwary enough to be out at Midnight on the solstice will be swept away.

Yule (also called Jul, jól or joulu) is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the heathen Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht ("Mothers' Night"). The term Yule and cognates are still used in English and the Scandinavian languages as well as in Finnish and Estonian to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the winter holiday season. Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.