Pagans parade through Holborn and celebrate Spring

Published: 03 June 2011
by JOSH LOEB

DRESSED in flowing robes and painted green from head to toe, about 100 Pagans descended on Holborn on Sunday to parade through the streets in celebration of spring.

The walk was organised by Geraldine Beskin, who runs London’s oldest Pagan and occult bookshop, the Atlantis in Museum Street, Bloomsbury. 

She said it marked a crucial date in the Pagan calendar, adding: “It is a celebration of the rebirth of spring. We are a very egalitarian religion – we celebrate both females and males. But this celebration is about the male energy. It is about procreation. Sex is necessary for new life.”

She dismissed myths about Paganism that suggested much of the religion was about moonlit orgies.

“We are not promiscuous but we are also not prudish,” said Ms Beskin. “Sex and birth is essential and we mark that.”

More than 60,000 people registered their religion as Pagans on the last census.