Pagan and ancient traditions
Pagan and ancient traditions cover the old religions of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Near East, and their modern revivals: Norse Yule and Midsummer, Celtic Samhain and Beltane, Greek and Roman festivals such as Saturnalia, Egyptian rites, Slavic Kupala and the Baltic Joninės.
Pagan and ancient traditions cover the old religions of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Near East, and their modern revivals: Norse Yule and Midsummer, Celtic Samhain and Beltane, Greek and Roman festivals such as Saturnalia, Egyptian rites, Slavic Kupala and the Baltic Joninės. Many survive in folk custom, in the Christian calendar and in carnival, and some are now followed by modern Pagans, Heathens and Druids. These pages describe both the historical festivals and the living customs, taking care to separate evidence from legend.
Old festivals, new forms
The Wheel of the Year, with solstices, equinoxes and the cross-quarter days of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain, gives the shape of many Pagan calendars, though it is a modern synthesis. Older customs, such as bonfires at midsummer, wreaths of herbs, the maypole and the wassail, are recorded in village life across Europe and are still kept, often without any link to religion.
Evidence and revival
Historians draw on texts, archaeology and folklore, and are cautious about claims of continuity from ancient times. Modern Pagan groups have revived rites in new forms, adapted to the present, and the resulting traditions are sincere and living. Public festivals at Stonehenge, Glastonbury and Uppsala bring crowds, and EveryParampara records what is known about each, and where scholars disagree. Visitors are asked to be respectful of those for whom the occasion is sacred.
About this page
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Pagan and ancient (faith). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
🇮🇷 Iran and 21 moreNowruzنوروز
The Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsSeasonal
🇮🇪 Galway, Ireland and 1 moreBrigid's crossCros Bhríde
A cross of woven rushes or straw, made for Saint Brigid's Day on the first of FebruaryCraft
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreImbolcLá Fhéile Bríde
A Gaelic festival heralding spring and honoring Saint Brigid with woven rush crossesSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreRite of passage
A ceremony that marks leaving one group and entering another, with a new statusRite of passage
🇺🇦 Kyiv, Ukraine and 14 morePysankaписанка
A wax-resist egg decorating tradition kept by Slavic communities for Easter and spring renewal.Festival
🇺🇦 Kyiv, UkraineChristmas in UkraineРіздво (Rizdvo)
A Ukrainian Christmas celebration with a twelve-dish vegan supper on Christmas Eve and observance on January 6 or DecembFestival · Supper
🇪🇬 Luxor, EgyptOpet Festivalḥb nfr n jpt
An ancient Egyptian festival in Thebes celebrating divine kingship and the Nile floodSpiritual
🇦🇲 Armenia and 2 moreVardavarՎարդավառ
An Armenian midsummer festival where people playfully douse each other with waterFestival
🇬🇷 GreeceAnthesteriaἈνθεστήρια
An ancient Greek three-day spring festival of Dionysus, new wine, and the deadFestival
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreHandfastingceangal na lámh (Irish); pòsadh-bliadhna (Scottish Gaelic)
A couple's promise made with joined or bound hands, kept from betrothal to weddingRite of passage
🇬🇪 GeorgiaAlaverdobaალავერდობა
A harvest and saint's feast celebrated at Alaverdi Cathedral in eastern GeorgiaSpiritual
🇬🇷 Olympia, Greece and 5 moreOlympic flame
A flame kindled in Greece, carried by torch to light the cauldron of each GamesCeremony
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival
A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇪🇬 Thebes, EgyptBeautiful Festival of the Valleyhb nfr n jnt
An ancient Egyptian festival honouring the dead with river processions across ThebesSpiritual
🇵🇹 Porto, PortugalFesta de São João do Porto
Porto's midsummer festival of street feasts, fireworks and playful hammer tapsFestival
🇦🇲 Armenia and 1 moreTrndezտրնդեզ
An Armenian fire feast forty days after Christmas, kept with bonfires and shared sweetsSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreKoulourakiaΚουλουράκια
Sweet butter pastries baked for Greek Easter and shaped into rings and braidsTable custom · Sweets given and shared
🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse)
The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor worship
Honouring dead relatives with offerings and prayers, kept in many cultures worldwideSpiritual
🇪🇬 Thebes, EgyptAncient Egyptian funerary practices
Rites for the dead in ancient Egypt: preserving the body, spells and grave goodsRite of passage
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked with fire, feasting and poetrySeasonal
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreEvil eye
A belief in harm cast by envious glares, met with protective charms and spoken blessingsFolklore
🇮🇪 Uisneach, Ireland and 1 moreBeltaneBealtaine
A Gaelic first-of-summer festival of bonfires, May flowers and feasting on 1 MaySeasonal
🇬🇧 United KingdomLammashlāfmæsse
A harvest festival marking the blessing of the first baked bread from the new wheat cropSeasonal
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain
A Gaelic festival marking the start of winter with bonfires and ancestor feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇹 Venice, Italy and 5 moreCarnival
A season of parades, masks and feasting in the days before LentFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Olympia, GreeceAncient Olympic Gamesτὰ Ὀλύμπια
A quadrennial athletic festival held in ancient Greece to honor the god ZeusGame
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalySaturnalia
A December festival of ancient Rome, with feasting, gifts, gambling and role reversalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Eleusis, Greece and 1 moreEleusinian MysteriesἘλευσίνια Μυστήρια
Secret annual initiations in ancient Greece dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, promising a blessed afterlife.Spiritual
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyBacchanalia
An ancient Roman mystery festival dedicated to the god of wine and ecstasyFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreLibation
The ceremonial gift of drink given to deities, ancestors, and the earthSpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇧 St Andrews, United Kingdom and 10 moreSaint Andrew's DayLà Naomh Anndrais
The feast of Andrew the Apostle, kept on 30 November and Scotland's national daySpiritual
🇬🇷 Olympia, GreeceHeraean Games
An ancient Greek festival of running races for unmarried young women at OlympiaGame
🇪🇬 EgyptOpening of the mouth ceremony
An ancient Egyptian rite to awaken a spirit's senses for the afterlifeRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Athens, Greece and 2 moreDionysian Mysteries
Ancient Greek and Roman initiation rites of wine, ecstatic dance and spiritual rebirthSpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreEpiclesisἐπίκλησις
The liturgical calling upon the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and wine during communionSpiritual
🇵🇱 Kraków, Poland and 5 moreDozhinkiDożynki
A Slavic harvest festival of the last sheaf, a woven wreath and a shared mealSeasonal
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyAmbarvalia
An ancient Roman agricultural rite to purify farmland and ensure fertile cropsSpiritual
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVinalia
Ancient Roman festivals honoring Jupiter and Venus with wine libations to bless the harvest and ensure good weather.Festival
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreLustratio
An ancient Greek and Roman cleansing rite using processions and animal sacrifice.Spiritual
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreTauroctonyταυροκτόνος
The sacred bull-slaying imagery at the heart of the ancient Roman Mithraic mysteriesSpiritual
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyMegalesiaMegalenses Ludi
An ancient Roman spring festival of theatrical plays, races and feasts for CybeleFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyFeraliaFerālia
An ancient Roman day of offerings to the dead, marking the close of ParentaliaSpiritual
🇮🇹 Italy and 4 moreRosalia
An ancient Roman festival of decorating graves, statues, and standards with fresh flowersSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreIncubationἐγκοίμησις
The sacred practice of sleeping in holy shrines to seek divine healing and dreamsSpiritual
🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceAmphidromiaτὰ Ἀμφιδρόμια
An ancient Athenian family ritual welcoming a newborn around the household hearthRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇳🇴 NorwayEsbat
A Wiccan coven gathering held each month, most often when the moon is fullSpiritual
🇬🇷 GreeceSparagmosσπαραγμός
An ancient Greek Dionysian sacrificial rite of tearing an offering apartSpiritual
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Christmas in Ukraine: Halyna Kuchmanych, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Olympic flame: RuinDig/Yuki Uchida, CC BY 4.0, source
- Vinalia: JPS68 via photoshop, Public domain, source
- Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
- Imbolc: Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0, source
- Vardavar: Камалян001, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nowruz: Katzenfee50, CC0, source
- Beautiful Festival of the Valley: Norman de Garis Davies, Nina Davies (2-dimensional 1 to 1 Copy of an 1, Public domain, source
- Alaverdoba: Grigory Gagarin, Public domain, source
- Festa de São João do Porto: Hugo Cadavez, CC BY 2.0, source
- Handfasting: Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Koulourakia: foodistablog, CC BY 2.0, source
- Yule: Robert Chambers, Public domain, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian funerary practices: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Evil eye: FocalPoint, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Eleusinian Mysteries: No machine-readable author provided. Marsyas assumed (based on copyrig, Public domain, source
- Dozhinki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ancient Olympic Games: Bgabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bacchanalia: Nicolas Poussin, Public domain, source
- Libation: Arkady Zarubin ( Аркадий Зарубин ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Opening of the mouth ceremony: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Heraean Games: Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dionysian Mysteries: Tilemahos Efthimiadis, CC BY 2.0, source
- Tauroctony: Jastrow, Public domain, source
- Sparagmos: WolfgangRieger, Public domain, source
- Amburbium: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Pysanka: Lubap, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Opet Festival: Marc Ryckaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ambarvalia: Alberto Pisa, Public domain, source
- Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Saturnalia: Themadchopper, Antoine-François Callet, CC0, source
- Anthesteria: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Rosalia: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Public domain, source
- Epiclesis: Nheyob , cropped by Tahc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rite of passage: Rogier van der Weyden, Public domain, source
- Beltane: Stefan Schäfer, Lich, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lammas: Paddy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
- Carnival: Etienne Le Cocq, CC BY-SA 3.0, source