the.com/paganism
the world's oldest religion, invented retroactively by people who needed a word for everyone else.
means an umbrella term for polytheistic and nature-based spiritual traditions, mostly defined by what it isn't: monotheistic and Abrahamic.
from from latin paganus, meaning rural or civilian — early christians used it as a slur for country bumpkins slow to convert, since cities went christian first.
not a religionmore a trash bin term for many unrelated faiths
military insultpaganus also meant not a soldier of christ
modern revivalwicca and druidry are 20th-century reinventions, not survivals
christmas treesborrowed yule customs got relabeled pagan later