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.
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.
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreBiikebrennenBiikebrånen
Fires lit at sunset on 21 February to send winter away in North FrisiaFestival
🇮🇹 Rome, ItalyVolturnalia
An ancient Roman festival honouring the water deity Volturnus and his daughter JuturnaSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇹 ItalyAmburbium
A Roman rite to cleanse the city walls through a sacred procession and animal offerings.Spiritual
🇬🇷 Orchomenus, GreeceAgrionia
An ancient Greek nocturnal festival dedicated to Dionysus AgrioniusSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇧🇪 Geraardsbergen, BelgiumKrakelingen and Tonnekensbrand
A bread throw and a hilltop bonfire that close the winter in GeraardsbergenFestival
🇬🇧 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
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreRussian superstitions
Everyday omens, etiquette rules, and household rituals observed across RussiaFolklore
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreĐurđevdanЂурђевдан
A spring festival and feast of Saint George kept across the Balkans and Eastern EuropeFestival · Feasts and festival meals
🇹🇳 Sousse, TunisiaCarnival of Awussu
An annual seaside midsummer parade in Sousse with floats, brass bands and folk troupesFestival
🇮🇹 Lake Nemi, ItalyNemoralia
A three-day Roman festival of torches and garlands for the goddess DianaSpiritual
🇮🇹 Benevento, ItalyWitches of Benevento
A southern Italian tradition of walnut-tree gatherings and protective folk charmsFolklore
🇷🇸 Serbia and 2 moreZapisзапис
A consecrated village tree marked with a cross, venerated in Serbian folk traditionSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇷 Susa, IranSusa weddings
A mass royal wedding held in 324 BCE to unite Macedonian and Persian nobilityCeremony
🇬🇷 Sparta, GreeceChitonχιτών
A draped tunic of wool or linen worn across ancient Greece and RomeDress
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Biikebrennen: Borstenpinsel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Russian superstitions: Сергей Чеботарёв, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Đurđevdan: Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917) Public domain image (acco, Public domain, source
- Nemoralia: Frederic Leighton, Public domain, source
- Perchten: Anita Martinz, CC BY 2.0, source
- Podłaźniczka: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Krakelingen and Tonnekensbrand: Jan Coppens at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 1.0, source
- Carnival of Awussu: Mahdi azouzi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lustratio: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Skyclad ritual: Luis Ricardo Falero, Public domain, source
- Actia: Flavius Hermogenes at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Susa weddings: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Chiton: Berlin Painter, CC BY 2.5, source
- Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source
- Zapis: Zblagojevic, CC BY-SA 4.0, source