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
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreMartenitsaмартеница
Red and white yarn dolls worn from 1 March until spring shows itselfFestival
🇦🇲 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
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 4 moreKorovaiкоровай (Ukrainian), каравай (Russian)
A round wedding bread of Eastern Europe, baked with songs and shared by all the guestsTable custom · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreBonfire Night
Yearly nights of bonfires and fireworks, kept in Britain, Ireland and beyondFestival
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 4 moreBabindenБабинден
A Bulgarian feast honoring midwives and new mothers with rituals of bathing, feasting, and blessing.Festival · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇸 Iceland and 2 moreYuleġēol (Old English); jól (Old Norse)
The Germanic midwinter festival that Christmas grew out of, kept today by HeathensSpiritual
🇦🇹 Austria and 5 moreKrampus
Saint Nicholas's horned companion, who comes for misbehaving children on 5 DecemberFolklore
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreTopping out
A builders' rite for the day the last beam goes up, marked with a tree, a flag and a toastCraft
🇨🇳 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
🇩🇰 Denmark and 3 moreNissenisse (Danish, Norwegian); tomte (Swedish); tonttu (Finnish)
A small farm spirit of Nordic folklore, given porridge at midwinterFolklore
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival
A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · 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
🇮🇷 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
🇳🇴 NorwayJul
An eight-week Norwegian midwinter season of feasts, family gatherings, and gift-givingSeasonal · Lunch
🇬🇷 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
🇬🇷 GreeceSymposiumσυμπόσιον
An ancient Greek post-meal gathering for diluted wine, debate, music and lively gamesTable custom · 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 7 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
🇦🇱 Albania and 3 moreXhubleta
A rippling bell-shaped skirt made by Albanian women of the northern highlandsDress
🇬🇷 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
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreLustratio
An ancient Greek and Roman cleansing rite using processions and animal sacrifice.Spiritual
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVinalia
Ancient Roman festivals honoring Jupiter and Venus with wine libations to bless the harvest and ensure good weather.Festival
🇩🇪 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
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreIncubationἐγκοίμησις
The sacred practice of sleeping in holy shrines to seek divine healing and dreamsSpiritual
🇮🇹 Italy and 4 moreRosalia
An ancient Roman festival of decorating graves, statues, and standards with fresh flowersSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceAmphidromiaτὰ Ἀμφιδρόμια
An ancient Athenian family ritual welcoming a newborn around the household hearthRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 7 moreEgg decorating
Decorating eggs with dye, wax and carving, kept at Easter, Nowruz and springCraft
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreNavigium Isidis
An ancient Roman ship procession honouring Isis and the opening of sea travelSpiritual
🇳🇴 NorwayEsbat
A Wiccan coven gathering held each month, most often when the moon is fullSpiritual
🇮🇹 ItalyMeditrinalia
An ancient Roman festival on October 11 to bless the new wine harvest with libations.Festival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇸🇾 Syria and 6 moreKha b'Nisanܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ
A spring new year on 1 April, kept with parades, poems and dancing by AssyriansFestival
🇬🇷 GreeceSparagmosσπαραγμός
An ancient Greek Dionysian sacrificial rite of tearing an offering apartSpiritual
🇪🇬 EgyptHermetic Qabalah
A Western esoteric tradition blending Kabbalah, astrology, tarot and classical mythSpiritual
🇪🇬 EgyptMin Festival
An ancient Egyptian royal rite for the god Min, staged by the king to renew his ruleSpiritual
🇵🇱 Kraków, Poland and 5 moreTurońTuroń (Polish), Turoň (Slovak)
A shaggy horned beast led from house to house by carol singers at carnival timeFolklore
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Martenitsa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Trndez: Armineaghayan, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Koulourakia: foodistablog, CC BY 2.0, source
- Korovai: Olli Niemitalo, CC0, source
- Bonfire Night: Jpdfive, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Babinden: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Yule: Robert Chambers, Public domain, source
- Krampus: Naturpuur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Topping out: PKS at Danish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian funerary practices: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Nisse: AlphaZeta, CC0, source
- Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
- Carnival: Etienne Le Cocq, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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
- Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Saturnalia: Themadchopper, Antoine-François Callet, CC0, source
- Xhubleta: Albinfo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dozhinki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Egg decorating: L.Kenzel, CC BY 3.0, source
- Kha b'Nisan: Athrakado, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Min Festival: NebMaatRa, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Turoń: Museum: The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków, CC0, source
- Ancient Olympic Games: Bgabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bacchanalia: Nicolas Poussin, Public domain, source
- Symposium: Nikias Painter, CC BY 2.5, 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
- Epiclesis: Nheyob , cropped by Tahc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ambarvalia: Alberto Pisa, Public domain, source
- Lustratio: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Vinalia: JPS68 via photoshop, Public domain, source
- Tauroctony: Jastrow, Public domain, source
- Rosalia: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Public domain, source
- Meditrinalia: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sparagmos: WolfgangRieger, Public domain, source
- Hermetic Qabalah: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
- Navigium Isidis: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source