Now, the winter solstice ... practices we associate with Christmas today came from pagan celebrations of the solstice, such as Christmas trees and wreaths, which originated from the celebration ...

For this reason, pagan and druid communities actually celebrate the first sunrise after the winter solstice ... would cut mistletoe that grew on oak trees and give it as a blessing.

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. Watch the full ...

Many of these Christmas symbols have humble beginnings that go back to the very origins of Christmas and its associations ...

Dressed in pagan folk costumes ... But these colourful revellers celebrating the winter solstice have not come to decorate a tree, but to burn one.

Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock Having trees over the winter period is a tradition so old that it actually predates Christmas. Evergreen plants, whose leaves remain throughout the year, were used in pagan ...

On the winter solstice, visitors traditionally enter the towering, mysterious stone circle for a sunrise ceremony run by local pagan and druid groups. Winter solstice marks the shortest day of ...

Neo-pagan celebrations at Stonehenge gained popularity from the early C20th onwards. The summer solstice is an opportunity to celebrate the long summer days. The winter solstice reminds us that ...