Explore winter solstice traditions around the world, from Yule in Scandinavia to Yalda in Iran and Tōji in Japan, with the history behind each custom.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Winter solstice traditions around the world share one simple idea: the longest night of the year is a moment to gather, light something, and wait for the days to grow longer again. This quick tour covers three of the most distinctive customs, from Scandinavia's Yule to Iran's Yalda Night and Japan's Tōji, along with the historical reason behind each one. The solstice falls on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere and in June in the Southern Hemisphere.

At 3minread, we care less about listing customs and more about where they came from. So each section below separates what people do today from what the historical record supports.

Winter solstice traditions around the world at a glance

Tradition	Where	What people do	Historical anchor
Tōji yuzu bath	Japan	Soak in a hot bath with yuzu citrus and eat kabocha squash	Said to date to Edo-period bathhouse promotion (1603–1868)
Shab-e Yalda	Iran	A family vigil with poetry, pomegranates, and watermelon	Zoroastrian roots; UNESCO listing in 2022
Yule	Scandinavia	A multi-night midwinter feast, with the Yule log and straw goat	Recorded by Bede in 725 as Giuli; feast held later in midwinter
St. Lucia's Day	Sweden	Candle-lit processions led by a girl with a crown of candles	Saint day on December 13, once the solstice in the Julian calendar

The sections below take each one in turn.

Japan: Tōji and the yuzu bath

In Japan, the solstice is called Tōji. The best-known custom is the yuzu bath, a citrus-scented soak. The day also features kabocha squash, a winter staple that many families serve on the same day.

Why yuzu goes in the bath

Yuzu is a small, aromatic citrus. When it floats in hot water, its strong scent freshens the air. By association, people believed that scent drove away 'bad air' and helped prevent colds. The idea is still part of the day's charm, and families often do it at home or visit a public bathhouse.

Where the custom likely started

The most-told origin story is less about health and more about business. According to Nippon.com, the practice is said to have begun as a way to attract customers when public bathhouses, or sento, were introduced in the Edo period (1603–1868). It's a good example of how a seasonal ritual can pick up a commercial reason along the way, while the cold-prevention belief stayed attached to it.

For another look at how Japan marks a seasonal turn, read our guide to Japanese New Year traditions, from osechi to temple visits.

Iran: Yalda Night and the longest night

In Iran, the solstice is known as Yalda, or Shab-e Yalda. It is a family night. The household stays up together, often until dawn, which turns the longest night of the year into a shared event rather than a quiet one.

A night-long vigil with poetry and fruit

Families traditionally gather inside the home around the korsi, a low table with a heat source underneath and blankets draped over it, while bonfires are lit outside. Reading poetry is a central part of the evening, and verses are often shared aloud. Pomegranates and watermelon are the best-known fruits on the spread, along with nuts and dried fruit. Their bright colors make the table feel like a small celebration of light in the dark.

Where the name and the age come from

Yalda's roots are usually traced to Zoroastrian tradition, in which the darkest, longest night of the year was seen as an unfavorable time, so people gathered together to get through it. Accounts of its age vary widely. ICRO's Yalda overview-) places the night's official entry into the ancient Iranian calendar in 502 BC, under Darius I. Popular accounts online often push its origins back more than 7,000 years. The useful takeaway is that the custom is very old, and its exact starting point depends on which source you read.

Why UNESCO recognition matters

In 2022, UNESCO added Yalda Night to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The listing recognizes a living practice, not only a historical one. Iranian media have since marked the anniversary, and Tehran Times reported on the third anniversary of the designation.

Scandinavia: Yule, Lucia, and the straw goat

Scandinavia is where solstice traditions get most tangled up with later customs. Yule is the best example. Today it is simply the everyday word for Christmas in several languages, but its older meaning was a midwinter feast held on a calendar that was not the same as ours.

Yule was not always on the solstice

The earliest written record points to midwinter timing. In 725, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede recorded two months called Giuli, one on either side of the winter solstice. Historians generally place the pre-Christian Yule feast later in midwinter rather than on the solstice itself. Mythic Harmonies' guide to the Norse midwinter feast walks through that distinction. Yule was also a multi-night celebration, which is a useful reminder that it was a season, not a single evening.

Customs that came later

Many customs now sold as ancient Viking traditions, including the Yule log and the straw goat, appear in written sources centuries later. That doesn't make them less meaningful. It means they are best understood as folk customs that developed over time, rather than as proof of exactly how the Vikings celebrated.

Why Lucia falls on December 13

Sweden's St. Lucia's Day falls on December 13, with processions led by a girl wearing a crown of candles. The date is the clue to the calendar. Her saint day was December 13, which in the old Julian calendar was the winter solstice, as Seattle Sami's essay on the ancient origins of Yule explains. The Julian calendar ran slightly longer than the solar year, so its dates slowly drifted away from the sun. The 1582 Gregorian reform corrected that drift, but the saint's date stayed on December 13. Today Lucia falls about a week before the solstice.

Why the longest night matters

The solstice happens because of Earth's tilt. Around December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere, the tilted axis points farthest from the sun, so the day is shortest and the night is longest. After that point, daylight returns a little more each day. That slow return is why so many cultures chose this moment for lights, feasts, and stories.

Ways to mark the solstice at home

If you want to borrow a few ideas from these traditions, keep it simple:

• Dim the lights after dark and light a single candle, since both Lucia processions and Yalda vigils center on light.
• Share a bowl of pomegranate, citrus, or nuts, and talk about what you hope to see in the coming months.
• Read a short poem aloud, a nod to the Yalda habit of sharing verse together.
• Treat it as a night, not an evening. Stay in and keep the pace slow.

Frequently asked questions

When is the winter solstice?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice falls on December 21 or 22. In the Southern Hemisphere, it falls in June, usually on June 20 or 21.

Is Yule the same as Christmas?

Not exactly. Yule was a pre-Christian midwinter feast. After Scandinavia converted to Christianity, its name became the everyday word for Christmas in Scandinavian languages.

What do Iranians eat on Yalda night?

The classic choices are pomegranates, watermelon, nuts, and dried fruit. Families share them through the night while poetry is read.

Why do people take a yuzu bath on Tōji?

The bath is tied to the belief that yuzu's scent freshens the air and helps prevent colds. That belief has stayed with the custom, and its origin story also links it to the bathhouses of the Edo period.

The takeaway

Winter solstice traditions around the world have different roots, but they share a clear purpose: marking the longest night and the return of light. Japan's yuzu bath, Iran's Yalda vigil, and Scandinavia's Yule and Lucia traditions each show how a seasonal date can collect new meanings over centuries. For a related read, our piece on Day of the Dead traditions and what each custom means shows how another culture builds a seasonal ritual around memory and family.