European Pagan Memory Day

The idea of a celebration for a European Pagan Memory Day was born in 2006, to fix an official moment in which we could remember both that roots of the pagan past all modern pagans recall in their practice, and the causes and events of the gap between that roots and us. This gap is the reason why modern pagans define themselves with this word, a word that was originally used as an insult.

A survey among pagans with different beliefs made us choose for the celebration the 24th February: on this day, in 391 c.e., Theodosius issued an edict which condemned all pagan practices and made Vesta’s fire (the one who had to burn forever in Rome) to be set off. Since the fire is sacred for all the so-called pagan religions, this event has been chosen as a symbol of the beginning of the many tries to delete pagan religions across Europe.

Soon it became clear to us that a single day was not enough: in present days a Pagan living in Europe (this is true especially for Western Europe, and for that part of North America who claims to be of "spiritual" European descent, while other continents live different situations) must construct her/his own path, her/his own "paganism" day by day and everyday must face the recall to the pagan roots s/he chose. The gap we were talking about just a few lines above makes all this difficult.

So the idea of turning the European Pagan Memory Day into a project was born; the project kept the name "Day" because the celebration of that day is anyway the signal of our pagan commitment, but it’s a whole of initiatives and means so that all pagans can look to the pagan past in order to construct the future of paganism.

Manuela Simeoni

Celebrations for the European Pagan Memory Day

Every group or individual who agrees with the principles at the foundation of the European Pagan Memory Day can choose how to celebrate the 24th February according to their religious thought. Groups usually hold celebrations, for practical reasons, during the weekend immediately before or after that date: click here to discover public celebrations for 2024 and for previous years.