The early Christians up North continued to drink large quantities of beer near the solstice, they just did it at Christmas instead and they still do.
In Sweden, the calendar has a name for each day, often named after saints. Once back when the Julian calendar was being used, which also had some drift from the solar year, the winter solstice happened on St Lucy's (Lucia) name-day on the 13th of December ... and so St Lucy started to be celebrated as a bringer of light, very far removed from the Sicilian tradition.
Since the end of the 19th century (at least), there is a tradition of young women doing processions dressed in white robes, holding candles and singing hymns, with the front girl being the "Lucia" carrying candles on her head. This tradition then merged with a tradition of young men dressed in white wearing KKK-like hats signing Christmas carols before or at Christmas eve, so now both young women (mostly) and men walk processions in white and sing Christmas carols on the 13th of December. It is usually not boozy, except that participants often use it as an excuse to party...
.
There's only 100 or so there.
