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- Many of our modern holidays have deep roots in ancient pagan festivals. Below, we explore the fascinating connections between these celebrations as well as ideas to blend these celebrations together to create new and unique traditions for you and your loved ones.
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Apr 11, 2023 · Many of our modern holidays have deep roots in ancient pagan festivals. Below, we explore the fascinating connections between these celebrations as well as ideas to blend these celebrations together to create new and unique traditions for you and your loved ones.
- Holidays with Pagan Origins
- Christmas
- New Year’S Day
- Easter
- The Roman Version of Halloween
- May 1st - Labor Day
- Epiphany Or Three Kings Day
- Saint John’s Eve
We already know how we celebrate on December 25th, but how would ancient Romans have celebrated their pagan version of Christmas? For an ancient Roman, December 25th was the time to celebrate Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. The Sun God was venerated under different names all over the enormous territory of the Roman Empire and became the most imp...
Also for the Romans, New Year’s Day was a very important date, but the most interesting fact is that originally the Roman year didn’t start on January 1st but in March. This was mainly because March was the month dedicated to Mars, the Roman god of war, which was also believed to be the divine father of Romulus, the founder of Rome. Due to extraord...
Easter is a very peculiar Christian holiday, which doesn’t fall on a specific date as all the other festivities, but it is based on the cycle of the moon: in fact, it falls on the first Spring Sunday after the new moon. The Jewish root of the Christian Easter Holiday are widely known: the Christian festivity is in fact connected to the holiday of P...
Everybody knows that Halloween traditions originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, but did you know that the Romans had something very similar and probably even creepier? Nowadays we have only one day dedicated to the memory of the Dead, on November 2nd, while the Romans had multiple occasions during the year to try and reconnect wit...
As most people know, Labor Day is a holiday that was established in 1894 to honor the labor movements and unions that improved the conditions of millions of workers. It does seem very modern, right? But it is not! In fact, May 1st was widely celebrated in ancient times too. For the Romans, May 1st was dedicated to Maia, an ancient goddess associate...
Every January 6th most Christian Churches celebrate the holiday of Epiphany, remembering the visit of the Magi Kings to Baby Jesus, or, according to Eastern tradition, the day Jesus was baptized. The rituals associated with this festivity differ from country to country and involve traditional cakes, such as the Three Kings Cake, or chalking the hou...
Saint John the Baptist holds a few interesting records among the saints: not only is he the most represented saint in all the history of religious art, but he is also the one and only saint who is celebrated on his birth date instead of his death date. He is indeed a very special saint, as he prepared the way for Jesus, who was also in fact his cou...
- Crystal Coker
- Nativity of John the Baptist. Source: catholicculture.org, wikipedia. As we have already seen, Christianity does a good job of hijacking pagan holidays to help spread their religion.
- St. Patrick's Day. Source: metro.uk.co. Ah, St. Patty’s Day! This holiday is more like the “anti-pagan” holiday. It celebrates the life of a man who reportedly drove out paganism and druids out of Ireland.
- Rosh Hashanah. Source: www.nehemiaswall.com. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year celebration. Originally, this holiday was called Yom Teruah, which translates as the “day of shouting.”
- Feast of the Tabernacles. Source: newworldencyclopedia.org, hope-of-israel.org. This major Jewish festival is also known as Sukkot or Feast of the Booths, among other names.
- Bealtaine – May Day. The Celtic culture is one of the world’s most ancient cultures, spreading in several parts of Western Europe. However, this culture is mainly associated with Ireland, Scotland, and parts of Great Britain, where traces of the ancient Celtic or Gaelic languages remain today.
- Samhain – Halloween. There were four major Celtic pagan holidays celebrated in ancient times, with each of them representing each season of the year. Samhain was among those four holidays, marking the end of summer and the start of the year’s darkest part.
- Yule – Christmas Eve. Norse paganism was a religion centred in Scandinavia, with the famous Viking warriors being its prominent practitioners, worshipping their famous Viking gods, Odin and Thor.
- Eostre Goddess Celebrations – Easter Day. Before Christianity struck Europe, most of the European tribes were pagans, including the Anglo-Saxons. Although they were quite different from the Vikings, they shared many similarities regarding paganism, worshipping the same gods but with other names.
- Imbolc. Imbolc is a Gaelic festival that is celebrated on February 1st (or the first full moon of February, depending on the tradition). It marks the beginning of spring, and is a time for honoring the goddess Brigid, who is associated with healing, fertility, and creativity.
- Ostara. Ostara is a holiday that is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere on the Spring Equinox, which is around March 21st. It is a celebration of fertility, rebirth, and new beginnings.
- Beltane. Beltane is a Gaelic festival that is celebrated on May 1st (or the first full moon of May, depending on the tradition). It is a celebration of fertility, love, and passion, and is a time for honoring the god Bel.
- Litha. Litha is a holiday that is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere on the Summer Solstice, which is around June 21st. It is a celebration of the longest day of the year and the abundance of the summer season.
Jan 25, 2019 · It’s not an ancient pagan holiday, but a modern one. Mabon was the son of Welsh mythology’s Mordred, who was either the son or brother of King Arthur, he of the Table Round. It’s not...
Jun 20, 2022 · Almost all paths of Modern Paganism celebrate a cyclical pattern of eight Paganism holidays spread out over the course of a year. These are known collectively as the Wheel of the Year, because each festival marks a different season of the year. The Origins of Pagan Festivals.
