Christmas, which arrives shortly after the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, has become the most celebrated December holiday in the world.
However, the short day - which marks the shortest day of the year in the northern half of the world - is also celebrated by millions of people in China, Iran and South America with holidays dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
In countries in southern Africa, the summer solstice in December is also marked by traditional lavish festivals of first fruits.
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Which winter solstice holidays will take place this December?
Dongzhi is a Chinese holiday that translates as "the peak of winter" or "the arrival of winter".
It dates back 2.500 years, all the way to the Han Dynasty.
The celebration begins on the day of the winter solstice and lasts for 15 days.
The holiday is said to be based on the traditional Chinese concept of yin and yang - a symbol of harmony and balance.
When the days are short, it is believed that there is a shortage of yang energy, so for Dongzhi, people eat foods that are yang (warm) to eliminate yin (cold).
These include tangjuan, (glutinous rice balls), which are also a symbol of reunion and progress, meat dumplings, mutton stew and babao porridge (made from beans, nuts and dried fruit).
Yalda (also known as Shab-e Yalda or Zayeshmer) is a 5.000-year-old Iranian holiday celebrated on the eve of the winter solstice, which is also the first day of winter in the Iranian calendar.
The name is derived from the old Syrian word for "birth".
In the religion of Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia, it marked the rebirth of Mithras, the sun god, because from then until the summer solstice, the sun stays in the sky longer.
Mithra symbolized light, goodness and strength on Earth.
Zoroastrians took the holiday from another Middle Eastern religion, Mithraism.
Yalda was one of the most important celebrations in pre-Islamic Persia and continues to be celebrated to this day among Zoroastrians in Iran and around the world.
In the past, Jalda festivals involved giving gifts, decorating houses with greenery and allowing servants to rule over their masters for a day.
The Romans are believed to have borrowed this practice for their winter solstice festival Saturnalia.
After that, it was adopted as a Christmas tradition.
In Peru and Ecuador, some people still celebrate the ancient holiday of Kapak Rajmi.
It was created by the Incas, a people who ruled much of the western coast of South America until the 16th century, and was held in honor of the sun god Inti.
It was held during the winter solstice, the first day of the Inca New Year.
People sacrificed animals, drank chicha de hora (corn beer), chewed coca leaves and danced.
The ashes of the victim were collected and thrown into the rivers as a gift to the god Virakocha, the creator of everything.
It was also the time when young men were initiated into warriors for the Inca Empire.
Kapak Rajmi is still celebrated in some villages of the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Andes in parades.
As part of the celebration, six- or seven-year-old boys receive their first pants and girls receive their first headbands.
Which summer solstice holidays will take place in December?
In many parts of southern Africa, the summer solstice is still celebrated with so-called First Fruit Festivals, marking the beginning of the harvest season.
This is an ancient tradition among people groups such as the Baka (who call her Ingkube), the Ndebele (who call her Inksvala), the Swazi (who call her Inkvala) and the Zulu (who call her Umkosi Vokvešvama).
It is the time when the head of the family tries the first crops harvested that year, lifting the ban on others in the family to eat them.
It is also the time when the ruler of a people or nation tries the first fruits.
Animals are sacrificed and the ruler breaks a calabash (wild gourd) to signify that the subjects can enjoy the fruits of the harvest.
The British banned the ceremony among the Zulu people after occupying their territory at the end of the British-Zulu War in 1879.
However, the holiday was revived in 1990 by the King of the Zulu people, Goodwill Zwelitini, and has since been held annually at the Enjokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma, South Africa.
The First Fruits Festival called the Great Inkwala is also a major cultural event in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland).
It is a six-day festival and a time to celebrate the monarchy of Eswatini.
Out of respect for the king, warriors pull weeds from his fields in the days after the festival.
The Feast of First Fruits is also a time for the purification and renewal of everyone's soul and forms the basis of Kwanzaa, a contemporary African-American holiday held from December 26 to January 1.
The name is derived from matunda ja kwanza, which translates from Swahili as "the first fruits of the harvest".
Kwanzaa was founded in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga, a professor of African Studies at California State University, to promote traditional African family and social values among African-Americans in the United States.
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