The Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere arrived today, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year. Factmonster.com(1) presents the astronomical background, while an article(2) by Akasha details some of the Wiccan associations.

1. http://www.factmonster.com/spot/wintersolstice1.html
2. http://www.wicca.com/celtic/akasha/yule.htm