Nottingham Samhain Pagan Market

The Nottingham Samhain Pagan Market returns to Sneinton Market on Saturday 31 October, from 12:00 to 18:00. It's the eighth annual edition, and the fifth since the organisers returned to Nottingham, run in collaboration with Pagan Pride UK. The whole thing takes Halloween back to its Celtic origins of Samhain, which marks the shift from summer to the dark, contemplative half of the year and the thinning of the veil, with an emphasis on the unique, the unusual and the occult. Pagan Pride UK is also using the occasion to mark the 75th anniversary of the repealing of the Witchcraft Act.

There are over 100 craft, food and drink traders on site — artists, makers, card readers, upcyclers and purveyors of vintage and direct-trade goods. Pagan Pride UK leads the opening and closing ceremonies, which include a performance ritual and a fire show by Drakonica. The music and storytelling run through the day with Ashley Mortimer, Black Pig Border Morris Dancers, Reaper's Ghost, Collexive Dance, Mythagic, Shell the Alt Folkie and Luxury Stranger. The Nottingham Shakespeare Company stages a dark version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Chronic Insanity runs an immersive theatre event within the market.

Costumes and Goth or Pagan garb are encouraged, so it's a good day to bring out whatever you've got. The weekend sits alongside Hockley Hustle, the city's music and arts festival, which is celebrating 20 years of hustling with 400 acts playing across 50 venues. If you're planning to do both, you've got plenty of room to move between them.

The market is free to enter and runs from 12:00 to 18:00 at Sneinton Market, Sneinton Market Square, Sneinton Market Avenues and MinorOak Coworking (Gedling Street and Avenue A), Nottingham, NG1 1DS.