Pagans Celebrate Autumnal Equinox With Public Rituals

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (RNS) Founded in the 1990s, the Pagan Pride Project aims to “foster pride in Pagan identity,” according to the organization’s website. One manifestation of this is Pagan Pride Day, an event that neo-pagans  in cities around the world celebrate every autumn, around the time of the equinox. Practitioners of a variety of pagan backgrounds gather for a day of workshops, public rituals, charity and entertainment.

Held in Waterfront Park along the Ohio River, the 2015 Pagan Pride Day event in Louisville drew about 650 people, said the event’s organizer, who uses the name of the Irish mythological hero Cu Chulainn. 

It is difficult to estimate the size of the American neo-pagan community , which includes adherents to Wicca, Druidism and Asatru, among other polytheistic and Earth-based religions. Fearing reprisal for their beliefs, many people do not publicly identify as pagan. They remain, as some like to say, “in the broom closet.”

See photos of the celebration below: