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. 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.

🇮🇪 Killorglin, Ireland and 1 moreLughnasadhLúnasa A Gaelic festival marking the start of harvest with feasts, fairs and mountain walksSeasonal · 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

🇬🇷 GreeceSymposiumσυμπόσιον An ancient Greek post-meal gathering for diluted wine, debate, music and lively gamesTable custom · 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

🇦🇱 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

🇵🇱 Kraków, Poland and 5 moreDozhinkiDożynki A Slavic harvest festival of the last sheaf, a woven wreath and a shared mealSeasonal

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreEpiclesisἐπίκλησις The liturgical calling upon the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and wine during communionSpiritual

🇮🇹 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 🇬🇷 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 🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyFeraliaFerālia An ancient Roman day of offerings to the dead, marking the close of ParentaliaSpiritual 🇬🇷 Athens, GreeceAmphidromiaτὰ Ἀμφιδρόμια An ancient Athenian family ritual welcoming a newborn around the household hearthRite of passage · Feasts and festival meals

🇺🇦 Ukraine and 10 moreEgg decorating Decorating eggs with dye, wax and carving, kept at Easter, Nowruz and springCraft

🇮🇹 ItalyMeditrinalia An ancient Roman festival on October 11 to bless the new wine harvest with libations.Festival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies

🇬🇷 GreeceSparagmosσπαραγμός An ancient Greek Dionysian sacrificial rite of tearing an offering apartSpiritual

🇮🇹 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 🇬🇷 Amyclae, GreeceHyacinthiaὙακίνθια A three-day ancient Spartan festival marking the death and rebirth of HyacinthusFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇹 ItalyAmburbium A Roman rite to cleanse the city walls through a sacred procession and animal offerings.Spiritual 🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVolturnalia An ancient Roman festival honouring the water deity Volturnus and his daughter JuturnaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇵🇱 Kraków, Poland and 5 moreTurońTuroń (Polish), Turoň (Slovak) A shaggy horned beast led from house to house by carol singers at carnival timeFolklore

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreBiikebrennenBiikebrånen Fires lit at sunset on 21 February to send winter away in North FrisiaFestival

🇧🇪 Geraardsbergen, BelgiumKrakelingen and Tonnekensbrand A bread throw and a hilltop bonfire that close the winter in GeraardsbergenFestival 🇬🇷 Orchomenus, GreeceAgrionia An ancient Greek nocturnal festival dedicated to Dionysus AgrioniusSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSkyclad ritual A practice of performing Wiccan and Pagan rites without clothing to express truth and spiritual freedom.Spiritual

🇬🇷 Nicopolis, Greece and 1 moreActiaἌκτια A festival of music, sport, and naval displays kept in ancient times to honor a Roman emperor's victory.Festival

🇦🇹 Austria and 2 morePerchten Masked midwinter walks in the Alps, with carved wooden masks and sheepskinFolklore

🇵🇱 Poland and 3 morePodłaźniczka A decorated evergreen branch hung over the Christmas Eve table in Poland and SlovakiaFestival

🇬🇷 Sparta, GreeceChitonχιτών A draped tunic of wool or linen worn across ancient Greece and RomeDress

🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreFilifilí (Irish) Ireland's and Scotland's trained poets, storytellers and seersPerformance

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreRussian superstitions Everyday omens, etiquette rules, and household rituals observed across RussiaFolklore

🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVenus Verticordia A Roman cult of Venus as the turner of hearts, kept by married womenSpiritual

🇷🇸 Serbia and 2 moreZapisзапис A consecrated village tree marked with a cross, venerated in Serbian folk traditionSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals

🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreĐurđevdanЂурђевдан A spring festival and feast of Saint George kept across the Balkans and Eastern EuropeFestival · Feasts and festival meals

🇮🇹 Benevento, ItalyWitches of Benevento A southern Italian tradition of walnut-tree gatherings and protective folk charmsFolklore

🇮🇹 Lake Nemi, ItalyNemoralia A three-day Roman festival of torches and garlands for the goddess DianaSpiritual

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Vinalia: JPS68 via photoshop, Public domain, source
Russian superstitions: Сергей Чеботарёв, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Venus Verticordia: kladcat, CC BY 2.0, source
Fili: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Eleusinian Mysteries: No machine-readable author provided. Marsyas assumed (based on copyrig, Public domain, source
Nemoralia: Frederic Leighton, Public domain, source
Dozhinki: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Egg decorating: L.Kenzel, CC BY 3.0, source
Turoń: Museum: The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków, CC0, source
Ancient Olympic Games: Bgabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Xhubleta: Albinfo, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bacchanalia: Nicolas Poussin, Public domain, source
Symposium: Nikias Painter, CC BY 2.5, 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
Meditrinalia: Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Sparagmos: WolfgangRieger, Public domain, source
Amburbium: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Skyclad ritual: Luis Ricardo Falero, Public domain, source
Actia: Flavius Hermogenes at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Chiton: Berlin Painter, CC BY 2.5, source
Perchten: Anita Martinz, CC BY 2.0, source
Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source
Biikebrennen: Borstenpinsel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Krakelingen and Tonnekensbrand: Jan Coppens at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 1.0, source
Ambarvalia: Alberto Pisa, Public domain, source
Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
Saturnalia: Themadchopper, Antoine-François Callet, CC0, source
Rosalia: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Public domain, source
Navigium Isidis: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Podłaźniczka: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Epiclesis: Nheyob , cropped by Tahc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Zapis: Zblagojevic, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Lughnasadh: Mountainash333, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Đurđevdan: Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917) Public domain image (acco, Public domain, source