It's often claimed that many of today's Christmas traditions derive from the pre-Christian observances of pagan cults suppressed by Roman authorities. The story goes that, after Christianity ...

Who invented Christmas? Historian Lucy Worsley traces the roots of Christmas by exploring the Anglo-Saxon tradition, wassailing where people sing to the apple trees to celebrate the winter solstice.

Like many European Christmas traditions, the burning of the Yule Log is based on ancient pagan rituals – in this case, the celebration of the Winter Solstice just a few days before Christmas.

After the founding of the Polish state and the simultaneous introduction of Christianity to its territory in 966, the pagan celebrations of Kupala Night fell into disfavour. Nevertheless, efforts to ...

When the early Christian church celebrated the birth of Jesus, it easily adopted the date of Dec. 25 and the theme of returning light, life and hopeful celebration from ancient ...

Christmas is a Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, though it also encompasses Greek, Roman and pagan traditions of giving gifts and feasting around the Winter Solstice. It is a time when ...