Whether you’re a pagan or simply interested in the associated beliefs and rituals, planning a holiday around festivals in Europe can make for a fascinating trip. Few holiday companies offer tours based on these events, but it’s easy to find information on the internet and make your own arrangements. Along the way, you’’ see some beautiful landscapes and intriguing landmarks, and get a closer encounter than many tourists manage with the culture and people of the countries you visit. Once you’ve settled on your itinerary, holiday companies can help you with bookings and travel.
Image by vintagedept.
The prehistoric stone circle of Stonehenge is probably the most famous pagan site in the United Kingdom, and can be very crowded, especially around midsummer. Less well known, but larger and more ancient, is the Neolithic ring at nearby Avebury. Here, unlike at Stonehenge, you can approach and touch the stones themselves. The site is popular with pagans, naturally, and there are frequent ceremonies.
Image by Magic Madzik
Many cultures and religions have long standing traditions to celebrate the end of winter. In Poland, as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, an effigy of the goddess Marzanna or Morana is symbolically drowned, often after burning. Children particularly enjoy making a puppet or dummy, transporting it to the river, and dunking it in.
Image by Downatthezoo
Beltane falls between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, Samhain between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. Both are Gaelic festivals, so celebrate them in a Celtic region, such as Wales or Cornwall. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, holds a yearly Beltane Fire Festival, a celebration of arts and culture. On Samhain, in some parts of Scotland and Ireland, you can still find costumed children guising, rather than trick or treating, and perhaps a traditional turnip lantern rather than a pumpkin.
Image by Bengt Nyman
There can be nowhere better to celebrate midsummer than in the land of the midnight sun. In northern Scandinavia, you can experience 24 hours of daylight on the longest days of the year. Regardless of the actual date on which it falls, the Swedes celebrate Midsummer Eve on the nearest Friday. It’s a time for leaving the towns and travelling into the countryside, to gather with friends and family. The maypole is an important part of the Swedish midsummer tradition, along with a feast of pickled herring and new potatoes, followed by the first strawberries of the season.
Those are just pagan festivals in Europe, though. What about the world? Have you been to pagan festivals in other parts?
Images by vintagedept, Magic Madzik, Downatthezoo and Bengt Nyman used under Creative Commons license.
Contributed by Jane Grant is a traveler and especially enjoys experience rare and unusual sights of the world. This was a hosted post made possible by our partner HolidayHyperMarket.
Renee Blodgett is the Founder and Managing Editor of We Blog the World, a global travel, culture and lifestyle publication exploring the world through the lens of meaningful experiences, human connection and cultural depth. Having lived in 10 countries and traveled to 95, Renee has spent much of her life immersed in the people, traditions, landscapes and ideas that shape how we experience the world.
Since launching We Blog the World in 2007, she has written and produced extensive editorial coverage spanning boutique and luxury travel, culinary experiences, arts and culture, wellness, adventure, technology, spiritual traditions and transformative travel. Her work is rooted in the belief that travel is about more than where we go—it is also about what a place, culture or encounter awakens within us.
Renee brings more than three decades of experience across journalism, photography, media, brand strategy, technology, wellness and global storytelling. She has worked with companies and organizations around the world on brand positioning, communications, product launches, media strategy, speaker positioning and storytelling. Through Blue Soul Media, she works with authors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and purpose-driven brands to clarify their message and expand their impact, which includes speaker coaching/training for high-profile stages such as TED and bringing authors’ work to market while retaining authors rights.
She is also the co-founder of Blue Soul Earth, an educational platform exploring consciousness, ancient wisdom, spirituality, healing and the intersection between science and the nature of reality. Renee is the producer and host of the award-winning Blue Soul CHATS, a conversational series bringing together leading voices in science, technology, consciousness, wellness and spirituality.
Her growing body of work also includes Blue Soul Living, which extends her interest in consciousness and well-being into the spaces we inhabit, exploring how intentional design, energy and environment can support greater harmony and connection.
Renee is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling Magdalene’s Journey and founder of the Magdalene Collection, inspired by women’s voices, stories and wisdom across cultures and generations.
A longtime photographer and storyteller, Renee has documented people, places and cultures around the world and produced photographic collections focused on destinations including the Galápagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome and Ecuador. She also co-founded Traveling Geeks, an international initiative that brought entrepreneurs, journalists, creators and technology leaders together with their counterparts in other countries to exchange ideas and explore innovation across cultures.
Renee’s work has been recognized by Forbes, the United Nations and others for her influence in media and social storytelling. Across her work in travel, media, consciousness and culture, a common thread remains: curiosity about the world, the stories that connect us and the ways meaningful experiences can change how we see ourselves and one another.
