Winter solstice festivals in the Northern Hemisphere have gone on since ancient times, focusing on lights, feasts, town and community gatherings.

Archeologists and paleontologists believe that solstice festivals may have gone on since before neolithic times, since physical remains have been found during Neolithic and Bronze Age archeological sites such as Stonehenge and New Grange in England, Bolivia, Japan, Peru, Mexico, and Scandinavia and other places.