Table of contents:
- Intro
- What is paganism?
- The pagan origins of Halloween
- The pagan origins of Christmas
- Sweden’s Pagan Traditions
- Nordic Pagan Festivities Today
- Folk Horror Movies and Their Pagan Inspirations
- Pagan Concerts: Music and Festivals
- Locations of Pagan Festivities Around the World
- Swedish Pagan Traditions Still Practiced
- The Revival of Paganism in Modern Times
- Mexican Pagan Festivities
- Folk Horror Movies and Real-Life Locations
- Conclusion
- Informative video
Intro
Get ready to be an expert on pagan festivities and impress your crush! Travel gives us the opportunity to experience different cultures, but what if it also gives us an insight into ancient customs that still influence our world right now? Crafted out of exoteric expressions, hundreds and thousands of years old, pagan fest is a modern manifestation of spiritual practices crafted from symbolism still visible in churches today based in societies that predate organized religion.
Halloween may stem from the creepy past, but all over the Earth, there are colorful pagan holidays that draw curiosity and beckon to be experienced. This guide will provide you with a sense of history, why it is important, and where in the world today we can still participate in these interesting and historical practices.
What Is Paganism?
Paganism was an international umbrella term for the polytheistic religions that predated Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Although the word ‘pagan’ long held a pejorative sense of being other than Christianity, it has been retrieved and is now widely applied to characterize myriad forms of spiritual practices in indigenous or pre-Christian cultures all over the world. Paganism can be divided into various forms of modern paganism based mainly on the belief in multiple deities. Instead, it is unique and consists of a variety of rituals, deities, etc.
An unknown fact is that Paganism focuses a lot on the natural cycles of the world, seasons, and our bond with nature. Pagan celebrations usually revolve around solstices, equinoxes, and other changes in the seasons. These festivals aim to pay tribute to the supernatural forces of earth and fertility, as well as gods linked with fertile soil or beings involved in universal harmony.
The Pagan Origins of Halloween
Halloween is one of the most famous pagan holidays which originates from the original ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. It marked the end of harvest and the onset of winter, a time when Celts believed living could easily intermingle with them dead due to the thinnest boundary. To keep those spirits away and honor the dead, they would light bonfires, wear costumes, and offer food. What is All Hallow’s Eve? Check out this article!
With the Christianization of Europe, Samhain mingled inextricably with All Saints’ Day (and its Eve- Halloween). But the pagan background remained. And so it has been passed down to today, where Halloween is observed across the globe (usually with more of a touch on merriment and macabreness) but still offering a nod to those timeless pagan roots. If you are looking for a more modern Halloween experience rooted in its ancient traditions as well, traveling to Ireland through Samhain is one of the best ways to uncover one of the oldest Pagan festivals known.
The Pagan Origins of Christmas
There are many ties between Christmas and paganism as a result of such practices. The Roman festival on December 25 was the date of the solar feast celebrated in honor of the god Saturn. Yule was the winter solstice, somewhat like our Christmas, and in Assyria, it was purposed to cradle their mother-goddess Belit Ili. Evergreens symbolize life in the dead of winter, so homes were adorned with pine boughs, in other words, a primitive form of what we now call Christmas trees.
Early Christians selected the date of December 25 to correspond with these pre-existing pagan holidays, treating various customs to make a hybrid religion that was easier for them and their fellow pagans. Even today, whether it’s hanging mistletoe, burning a Yule log, or exchanging gifts, you can find the vestiges of this pagan celebration during Christmas.
Sweden’s Pagan Traditions
Having had a long tradition of paganism, Sweden boasts perhaps the most stunning pagan celebrations. The celebration of one of the greatest Swedish ceramics traditions is Midsummer in June. Roots derive from pre-Christianity and an important pagan holiday to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Celebrations often involve dancing around a maypole, singing traditional songs, and wearing flower crowns.
Walpurgis Night: On April 30th, some places in Europe celebrate Walburg, another occasion called Valborg. It is believed to be a time when witches were able to roam completely free, and bonfires would need to be set alight across the lands in order for people to protect themselves from evil spirits coming closer. Today, Valborg is known for big bonfires in the evening and singing to usher in spring.
Nordic Pagan Festivities Today
A good deal of pagan rites have survived in Swedish and other Nordic cultures. At the Þorrablót festival in Iceland where you can learn more about ancient Norse sacrifices and taste amazing food! Held in January and February this is a festival to honor the hardships of winter, as well as hailing Thor–the Norse god of thunder. Featuring many foods rooted in Viking heritage, the feast includes reeking shark and sheep’s head as two of its main dishes.
Yule is technically not a Christmas holiday but rather an ancient Norse feast associated with the winter solstice and used to celebrate when the sun began returning. It is a pagan festival, originally celebrated with decorations of lights and evergreens to mark the triumph of light over darkness. While absorbed into Christmas by the Christians long ago, many of Yule’s pagan aspects shine through.
Folk Horror Movies and Their Pagan Inspirations
Paganism has typecasted itself as a filmmaker go-to, especially in the realm of folk horror. Movie directors see Paganism in suspense flicks such as the 1973 version of The Wicker Man or Midsommar from 2019, utilizing it more like a prop to evoke feelings in the viewer. Telling stories of remote villages engaging in time-honored, cultish practices (rife with nature worship and human sacrifice), these films are a staple for my campfire season.
For the curious or morose soul seeking to read a bit deeper into the darker overtones of pagan festivities as redrafted by stories, folk horror movies provide us with tales that take us on our own cinematic odyssey through how those ancient rites have continued influencing contemporary culture. Fans of the genre have a taste for visiting locations featured in these movies, like the Scottish Island shown here from The Wicker Man. Check out this movie’s section!
More folk horror movies:
- The Kill List (2011)
- The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)
- Onibaba (1964)
- Häxan (1922)
- The Witch (2015)
- Apostle (2018)
- Children of the Corn (1984)
- The Ritual (2017)
- Equinox (TV series – 2020)
- Hellbender (2021)
- The Love Witch (2016)
- The Medium (2021)
Pagan Concerts: Music and Festivals
Modern paganism has continued to influence many of the arts, particularly in music, where a number of leading pop and folk artists have sung about pagan celebrations. One of them is the Castlefest in the Netherlands, where thousands of visitors come each year to listen to pagan music, explore medieval markets, and watch rituals. These festivals feature Pagan folk bands inspired by ancient Norse, Celtic, and Germanic themes like Faun, Wardruna, or recently even Heilung.
The perfect setting for such concerts would be in a forest or historical/medieval locale, and these mythical surroundings only do justice to the sentimentality of Amorphis. Festivals such as Paganfest, a traveling series of pagan metal bands throughout Europe, are another common way for people to celebrate the holidays with additional music.
Locations of Pagan Festivities Around the World
If you want to take a trip and see some contemporary pagan rituals, there are many inspiring places around the globe where modern forms of these ancient traditions still continue.
Ireland
The Samhain festival in County Wairthe has the most unusual ways to celebrate the pagan origins of Halloween. Participation from visitors will include traditional fire rituals, storytelling, and guided trips to sites deemed sacred by pagan professionals, such as the Hill of Tara.
Greece
Prometheia Festival in Athens is a must for historical lovers. A festival that honors ancient Greek mythology with theatre, the re-enactment of sacred ceremonies, and several processions dedicated to gods in Olympus. This is one of those pagan festival exercises that helps us remember how deep and long the connected roots between Greece and spiritual geography go.
United States
There are also many gatherings of 5,000 to 10,000 modern pagans, such as the annual PantheaCon in San Jose, California, and the Pagan Spirit Gathering in Illinois for rituals, workshops, and music celebrating pagan beliefs.
Mexico
In Mexico, La Santa Muerte is not a celebration but a figure that blends indigenous paganism with Catholicism. While not officially recognized by the Catholic Church, many Mexicans honor Santa Muerte, the “Saint of Death,” with offerings, candles, and prayers.
This celebration, though not strictly pagan in origin, has deep roots in Mexico’s pre-Columbian past, when death and the afterlife were central to religious beliefs. Check out this article where we were mentioned: Indigenous festivals in Mexico.
England
The Celtic calendar in England has a lot of ancient pagan festivals, such as Beltane and Samhain. At stone circles people congregated to light bonfires and worshipped the spirits of nature through ritual dancing and celebration.
Swedish Pagan Traditions Still Practiced
There are also living pagan traditions, many of which have survived to modern times. One of the most famous pagan celebrations still recorded is Midsummer. Included among these is the ancient Norse pagan rite of sacrifice Blót which has also been restored in neopagan practice.
Human and animal sacrifice is no longer part of the rites, but during a modern ceremony, people make offerings in the form of food or drink to pay tribute honoring gods and nature.
Also, in Sweden, Lussekatter is an aspect of Lucia Day (a combination of Christian and pagan holidays where children dress up as St. Lucy and sign traditional songs) that occurs during December. During the Lucia celebrations, another specialty dish of Saffransbröd has its origin in ancient pagan traditions when universities began providing a feast that started early and ended late with nothing but Saffransbröd.
The Revival of Paganism in Modern Times
Nowadays, a pagan renaissance is taking place as people resonate with nature and the wisdom of times past. Neo-paganism, which encompasses faiths like Wicca, Druidry, and Asatru, has generated a proliferation of new pagan festivals that combine ancient rites with other neo-religious practices. For most, these celebrations are a means of restoring harmony in a world that can be more disconnected from nature.
The major festivals of modern pagans have their roots in pre-Christian traditions, such as Beltane (May Day), Lughnasadh (harvest festival), and Imbolc (spring festival). In other celebrations and parties, people dance, feast, and bring gifts to the Mother Earth.
Mexican Pagan Festivities
In Mexico, there are pagan traditions that had to have existed before the Spanish colonizers arrived. One such celebration is Día de los Muertos [Day of the Dead], a holiday that pays tribute to family members and friends who have passed away. Dia de Muertos itself did not exist in the pre-Hispanic world. However, there were rites to the goddess of death: Mictecacíhuatl.
Though syncretized with Catholicism today, Dia de los Muertos is a deeply pagan celebration whose roots stretch back to the Aztec festival of Mictecacihuatl, an earth goddess and Lady of the Dead. Marigolds (cempasuchil flower), sugar skulls, and special foods are on altars at the homes of relatives to welcome their ancestors back into this world during Dia de los Muertos.
Also a very important celebration in Mexico is the Spring Equinox at Chichen Itza, on the Pyramid of Kukulkan. People flock to see the Mayan serpent god Kukulkan appear to descend from where it appears for only an instance every year, walking on its stairs in shadow form as the sun sets. Check out our tour of the Guelaguetza in Oaxaca!
Folk Horror Movies and Real-Life Locations
These movies offer a thrilling, suitable gateway for anyone interested in the seedier side of paganism. Whether it is in the form of The Wicker Man or Midsommar, from a series like Ares to Hereditary and even down further back into classic roots with titles like Rosemary’s Baby—who could forget raw tones about Salem Witch Trials-era films like Haxan—there has been just this contagion express emblem for isolated traditions practiced by pagan towns that usually lead us through dimensions style containment.
The following movies are based on actual pagan festivals and places. Take the village of Orkney in Scotland, where they filmed The Wicker Man – but still hold ancient festivals entwined in traditions. The exposure to these locations can create an added element of enchantment for your travels, as many venues that served in filming are still home to ancient pagan-grown festivals.
Conclusion
These pagan festive celebrations offer a fascinating glimpse into the world of ancient tradition and take you on an enriching journey through antiquity. Whether you’re more prone to join a Nordic blót ceremony or Mexico’s Día de los Muertos, a folk horror movie that brings these age-old traditions to life will not disappoint.
In trekking these celebrations, we remember the overwhelming forces of nature in her life and death cycles and the age-old necessity to acknowledge our environment. Therefore, whether you are dancing around a maypole in Sweden, taking part in Samhain rituals in Ireland, or exploring the locations where folk horror movies were shot, the world of pagan festivals can be your new exciting adventure across ancient traditions.