Watching a groundhog emerge from a cozy burrow in early February feels quintessentially American, but the tradition of turning to animals to predict the spring comes from pre-Christian pagan ...

Charlemagne unified not only territories under his iron rule, but also converted hundreds of thousands of European Pagans to Roman Catholicism as a zealous ally of the pontificate. Europe would ...

Ancient Chinese, Hebrews, and Egyptians viewed evergreens as symbols of eternal life. European pagans "decked the halls" with evergreen branches to bring in life during the dark days of winter.

(Fittingly, storks return to Europe from Africa about 9 months after the summer solstice.) After the founding of the Polish state and the simultaneous introduction of Christianity to its territory in ...