It's a culturally significant occurrence with prehistoric origins. Recognising the shift in the length of the days led to an understanding of the end of winter and the rebirth of the sun, signalling the return to growing season.

Dr Judith Bailey of the Ballarat Municipal Observatory hosted an observation of the solstice, saying an understanding the science helps us to grasp a bigger picture.

"I think the broader picture of appreciating where we are in space, the fragility of the planet, I think it's very critical to the survival of the human race," Ms Bailey said.

"Materialism is totally irrelevant in the big scheme of things and I think that it's a wonderful. We live on a beautiful wonderful planet and we need to look after it."

Jo Toor from Melbourne attended with family from Ballarat.

"We knew it was the shortest day of the year," she says.

"I'm quite happy because I don't like winter, so it means we have turned the corner; we are on the way to longer days and more sunshine. I'll probably go out when there is a new moon in the next couple of months and try to see Jupiter and Saturn, which was what Judith was talking about. I'll try to do it when I'm in Ballarat, not Melbourne, because it'll be too bright in Melbourne."

Founder of the Pagan Collective of Victoria Jo Winter says many midwinter rituals we observe today - Christmas being the foremost - had their beginnings in ritual.

"Much of what we celebrate in solstice comes from holidays which predate Christianity," Ms Winter says.

"Some comes from Scandinavian countries where they celebrate Yule - thus yuletide and so on. So bringing greenery inside, and a Christmas tree, comes from that. In fact, the marrying up of Christmas and the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere happened during the renaissance."

Ms Winter says some modern pagan rituals which appear pre-Christian actually borrow early Christian rites.

One which has translated to Ballarat is the Mari Lwyd, is a Welsh form of 'wassailing' or door-to-door singing and reciting of poetry. The midwinter wassailers are accompanied by a figure made from the skull of a horse, fixed to a pole and decorated with flowing material, ribbons and paint. They go to people's homes and sing for entry until they are given food and drink.

Some claim the tradition has ancient origins, however the 'Grey Mare is more likely an extension of 16th and 17th century traditions of hobby horsing combined with Christian rituals which sourced older midwinter rites.

In Aztec culture the winter solstice celebrated the birthday of Huitzilopochtli, patron god of the Mexica, lord of the sun and of combat.

In huge celebrations, unmarried woman who had lived for a year in temples baked a life-size figure of Huitzilopochtli, made of amaranth and corn flour. Carried in procession to the great temple of Tenochtitlan, the people would drink no water (to strengthen the sun) for a day and eat only broken parts of the amaranth dough figure and dough bones.

After this a great dance would take place, and the unmarried women were then free to marry. Slaves would be ritually bathed and cast into a pitched battle, armed with razor sharp stone axes and pine clubs,.followed by human sacrifices, to spill the blood needed to start the new seasons.

The solstice in Celtic tradition is Men Geimhridh or Grianstad an Gheimhridh in Irish. Solstices and equinoxes were important to the Celts, who built stone tombs and structures with passages aligning with the solstice sun.