Chocolate bunnies. Bouquets of lilies and daffodils. Hunting for dyed eggs. For many, Easter functions as the unofficial kickoff of spring—but for Christians around the world, the holiday is the most ...

As millions around the world make merry during Christmas, few know that they will be celebrating an event deeply steeped in paganism. While December 25 is a day set aside to celebrate the day Jesus is ...

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.

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 became ...

Many of the Easter traditions Christians celebrate today date back to the early days of Christianity. Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images Easter brings together an unlikely cadre of ...

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.

An interesting bit of historical sleuthing and reconstruction at Biblical Archaeology Review suggests that claims that Christians chose December 25th as Jesus’ birthday because it coincided with pagan ...

Have you ever wondered where the tradition of putting up a tree for Christmas came from? Or why we light a menorah for Hanukkah? Find out about the interesting origins of many holiday traditions right ...

As happens each Easter, I find friends posting the supposed pagan origins, rooted in the worship of Ishtar. Any help in this would be appreciated. “Easter” is the anglicized version of “Eostre” a ...