While December is a time billions around the world celebrate Christmas, there are several holidays that also take place ...

In fact, the Old English word “geōl” goes way, way back and was used for something decidedly un-Christmas: an annual pagan festival that ... solstice celebrations, burning a specific log ...

An ancient pagan ... the festival was celebrated by Germanic peoples, originating in Scandinavia and later absorbed into the celebration of Christmas, according to Britannica. Today, Yule is ...

A traditionally Christian festival to celebrate the birth of Christ has morphed into a secular jamboree season.

Being a Navan man makes me biased ... This act angered the High King Laoire, a pagan, who had forbidden all other fires while a festival fire was burning on the Hill of Tara, some 16 kilometers ...

The man himself, Father Christmas joins Eric Knowles ... CBeebies Presents: Beauty and the Beast, filmed in Edinburgh at the Festival Theatre, taking the well-known story and bringing it to ...

Stemming from pagan, pre-Christian traditions ... Guatemalans kick off the Christmas season with La Quema del Diablo, or ‘The Burning of the Devil’. During this festival, people clear out their houses ...

Marking the end of the Yuletide season, the festival began almost spontaneously. Lubricated by long nights of drinking, drum-beating and general debauchery, young men began burning tar barrels ...

Whether it’s torchlit processions, folk dances or modernised pagan rituals ... season, the festival began almost spontaneously. Lubricated by long nights of drinking, drum-beating and general ...