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Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples.In present times adherents of some new religious movements (such as Modern Germanic paganism) celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival.
The four Celtic festivals were known to the Gaels as Beltane (1 May), Lughnasadh (1 August), Samhain (1 November), and Imbolc (1 February). Influential works such as The Golden Bough (1890) by James George Frazer explored various European seasonal festivals and their possible pagan roots.
Mōdraniht or Modranicht (pronounced [ˈmoːdrɑniçt]; Old English for "Night of the Mothers" or "Mothers' Night") was an event held at what is now Christmas Eve by Anglo-Saxon pagans. The event is solely attested by the medieval English historian Bede in his eighth-century Latin work De temporum ratione .
The modern Icelandic festival of Þorrablót is sometimes considered a "pagan holiday" due to folk etymology with the name of the god Thor. [5] The name, while historically attested, is derived from Þorri which is not explicitly linked to Thor, instead being the name of a month in the historic Icelandic calendar and a legendary Finnish king.
Yule: Pagan winter festival that was celebrated by the historical Germanic people from late December to early January. Koliada: Slavic winter festival celebrated on late December with parades and singers who visit houses and receive gifts. Wassailing winter celebration that lands on the first full moon of December. Celebrations include gift ...
Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus's birth, with some claiming that certain elements are Christianized and have origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity; other scholars reject these claims and affirm ...
The Christmas tree is considered by some as Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship; [26] according to eighth-century biographer Æddi Stephanus, Saint Boniface (634–709), who was a missionary in Germany, took an axe to ...
A Yule goat on a Christmas tree. 'Old Christmas', riding a yule goat; 1836 illustration by Robert Seymour. The Yule goat is a Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbol and tradition. Its origin is from Germanic paganism and has existed in many variants during Scandinavian history. Modern representations of the Yule goat are ...