This last Saturday (31st October) I found myself standing in the middle of Sneinton Market in Nottingham, just taking in the amazing atmosphere that was surrounding me on all sides.
Stalls were bustling and busy serving up handmade and beautifully curated items, performances were happening including live music, street plays and interesting talks and everywhere I looked, people were chatting, laughing, exploring and enjoying themselves. It didn’t matter where my eyes wandered there was something was going on, and every bit of it was contributing to this wonderful, vibrant celebration of Pagan community.
I remember thinking how awesome it all was because this is what our community looks like. We’re not the frightening caricatures being painted by the folks who don’t understand us, nor are we the misinformation and fearmongering we’ve been seeing so much of lately. Instead, we’re just real people with a common understanding of the world coming together to share something they love.
It was truly magnificent!
You see, on Saturday 31 October, the Pagan Market took over Sneinton Market Avenues in Nottingham for an afternoon of creativity, entertainment, community and celebration. Organised by Dee Miller of Minor Oak Coworking in collaboration with Pagan Pride UK, the event brought together an extraordinary collection of makers, artists, performers, speakers, practitioners, volunteers and visitors, all contributing to something rather special.
There were stalls to explore, performances to enjoy, opportunities to learn and experiences to take part in but more than any of those things, what struck me was the atmosphere. That wonderful feeling of people coming together, bringing their own talents, interests and enthusiasm, and creating something that was so much greater than the things that were going on around me.
It was busy, colourful, occasionally chaotic and absolutely brilliant.
For me, there was something particularly meaningful about celebrating all of this in 2026, as we mark 75 years since the repeal of the Witchcraft Act of 1735. That repeal was an important milestone in the long and complicated history of witchcraft in Britain. It didn’t magically erase centuries of prejudice, misunderstanding or discrimination, and it certainly didn’t mean that witches, or Pagans, Heathens, Druids et al, suddenly found themselves universally accepted. But it represents a significant moment in the story of how we’ve arrived where we are today.
Seventy-five years later, here we were, openly celebrating witchcraft and Paganism in the heart of Nottingham, sharing our traditions, our creativity and our community with anyone who wanted to come along and I really believe that that’s something worth celebrating.
The day also gave us an opportunity to remember those who weren’t afforded the freedoms we enjoy today. As part of the closing ritual and fire performance, we honoured people who had suffered under historic witchcraft persecution, speaking their names aloud and acknowledging the very real human cost of fear, superstition and injustice.
It was a powerful reminder of why understanding our history matters, and why challenging misinformation and prejudice remains important.
But what I loved most about Saturday was that we weren’t simply talking about what it means to be Pagan – we were actually living it! We were creating things, sharing knowledge, telling stories, making connections, supporting one another and celebrating the enormous diversity of people and practices that make up our community.
I think that’s particularly important right now and especially as over recent weeks, we’ve seen yet more examples of us as a whole community being misrepresented. There’s some people out there who are seemingly determined to portray our beliefs and practices as something sinister or threatening and it’s frustrating, sometimes exhausting, and occasionally so ridiculous that you genuinely don’t know whether to laugh or bang your head against the nearest wall.
But Saturday was a truly beautiful reminder that those voices don’t get to define us.
We do, and I know that every single time we create a welcoming space or share our knowledge we’re helping people understand who we really are. Things like supporting a fellow practitioner, celebrating our traditions and even simply showing up as ourselves or so important to creating a different picture to the one that has perpetuated for hundreds of years.
We don’t have to agree on everything to do those things. Paganism encompasses an extraordinary range of beliefs, traditions and approaches, and that’s part of its beauty. What brings us together isn’t that we’re all the same, but that we can recognise the value in one another’s differences and find ways to build something meaningful together.
Of course, events like the Nottingham Pagan Market don’t happen by accident. Behind the scenes are lots of people giving their time, energy, creativity and skills to make them possible. Organisers are out there solving problems and filling in a million forms from the council, volunteers work hard to set up and keep things running, performers spend their time writing and rehearsing, stallholders pour their love and talents into preparing their wares and there are countless little acts of cooperation that most visitors will never see but are vital to making it all work.
That deserves recognition, because community isn’t something that just happens, it’s something that we make together, so to Dee, the Pagan Pride team, every maker, performer, volunteer and person who helped bring Saturday to life, thank you! And to everyone who came along and became part of it, thank you too!
You all created something inspiring and amazing.
I’ve spent an awful lot of my time lately talking about the importance of standing up against misinformation, discrimination and religious intolerance, mainly because I believe that work is essential. But Saturday reminded me that standing up for our communities doesn’t always mean challenging something negative, sometimes it means creating something positive.
Sometimes it means opening doors, welcoming people in, sharing what we love and letting the world see the extraordinary things that happen when people come together.
And sometimes it means standing in the middle of a bustling market, looking around at everything happening, and feeling overwhelmingly proud to be part of it.
This is what Pagan community looks like.
And I reckon the world could do with seeing a lot more of it.
Sarah Kerr
President
Contact Sarah here