Debunked investigates the world's biggest myths and misconceptions. Each deep dive is an educational and entertaining journey ...

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 ...

Credit: Anna Efetova via Getty Images It's often claimed that many of today's Christmas traditions derive from the pre-Christian observances of pagan cults suppressed by Roman authorities.

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 ...

Who invented Christmas? Historian Lucy Worsley traces the roots of Christmas by exploring the Anglo-Saxon tradition, wassailing where people sing to the apple trees to celebrate the winter solstice.

Although today's commercialized Christmas is considered distinctly American, the festival was banned in the nation's earliest days. New England's Puritan leaders considered it a pagan or papist ...

Like many European Christmas traditions, the burning of the Yule Log is based on ancient pagan rituals – in this case, the celebration of the Winter Solstice just a few days before Christmas.

Dressed in pagan folk costumes, Latvians gather on a square in the centre of Riga for a ceremony that some historians see as the ancient precursor to the Christmas tree tradition. But these ...