Yule is a time of the greatest darkness and is the shortest day of the year.
Earlier peoples noticed such phenomena and supplicated the forces of nature to
lengthen the days and shorten the nights. Wiccans sometimes celebrate Yule
just before dawn, then watch the Sun rise as a fitting finale to their efforts.

Since the God is also the Sun, this marks the point of the year when the Sun
is reborn as well. Thus, the Wicca light fires or candles to welcome the Sun's
returning light. The Goddess, slumbering through the winter of Her labor,
rests after Her delivery.

Yule is the remnant of early rituals celebrated to hurry the end of winter
and the bounty of spring, when food was once again readily available.
To comtemporary Wiccans it is a reminder that the ultimate product of death
is rebirth, a comforting thought in these days of unrest.