Nothing reminds us that we are on a celestial island surrounded by the abyss like watching our planet's energy source turn into a gaping black hole. But don't take my word for it. From occult and ...

ROME – The church where the tradition of celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 may have begun was built near a pagan shrine as part of an effort to spread Christianity, a leading Italian scholar says.

Dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating are popular Halloween activities, but few probably associate these lighthearted fall traditions with their origins in Samhain, a three-day ancient Celtic ...

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Early Christian icons may have derived some of their stylistic elements from pagan religious portraits, according to some ...

December 21 marks the shortest day of the year and the first official day of winter. At 10:03 a.m. the winter solstice occurs on that day, heralding the beginning of winter in the entire Northern ...

This article first ran in 2015. Every year around Christmastime the word "Yule" pops up all over the place, especially in advertising. Maybe it's because it rhymes with so many words, making for ...

Though it features illustrations of a menagerie of animals that carry Jewish symbolism, an ancient Roman mosaic discovered in Lod, Israel, in 1996, is not a religious work, according to the ...

As for Easter eggs and bunnies, there is little evidence that modern Christians lifted these symbols from pagans. In the early years of the Church, eating eggs was forbidden during Lent. Therefore, ...

Easter brings together an unlikely cadre of traditions: church, bunnies and eggs. What may seem like an odd trio, however, is actually tied together by the universal themes of spring and life renewed.