Pagans, druids, wiccans and others gathered in Washington Square Park for the annual NYC Pagan Pride Festival yesterday.

The event, which benefited City Harvest, was a way for pagans and the "pagan-friendly open-minded folk" to participate in workshops, enjoy performances and drum circles, peruse magical merchandise vendors and simply learn more about various facets of paganism.

Photographer Cassi Alexandra spoke to over a dozen participants, who spoke about self-awareness and being able to accept each other. Dawn Hunt, whose company Cucina Aurora Kitchen Witchery makes infused olive oils for cooking, said, “If you are a good person in the world and you do the right thing by people then you can’t fail, nothing good ever came from hate, fear or bigotry."

Paganism has existed for thousands of years, pre-dating the larger monotheistic religions that dominate the world today. While often thought of as wild and hedonistic, paganism looks for the divine in nature as opposed to one singular God. There's also not one specific "religion" of paganism, but rather a belief system that can encompass a number of ethnic and pre-Christian religions.