Pride Gets a Medieval Twist at NYC’s St. John Cathedral

Feathers fluttered and tassels swayed as a gust of wind swept over the steps of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday night, May 31. Hundreds of queer “pilgrims” and their allies gathered at the storied Upper West Side church for a Pride celebration like no other, each dressed in a monochrome outfit with a whimsical Medieval flair.

The event marked the second annual “Pilgrimage to Pride,” co-organized by the Greedy Peasant, a TikTok and Instagram personality who hails from “Medieval New York,” and artist Yuliya Tsukerman. Following the rousing success of last year’s sold-out event with 500 attendees, the celebration swiftly sold out with 200 additional attendees of this year’s festivities.

Tyler, who goes by the moniker “the Greedy Peasant,” has racked up hundreds of thousands of followers across Instagram and TikTok through chronicling the antics of what he calls a “queer medieval fever dream.” This includes dishing on the drama between Medieval reliquaries, showing off all the ways a Catholic can entertain themselves with the leaves given out on Palm Sunday, suggesting ideas for freaky saint-themed Halloween costumes, and talking all things tassels.

Left: The Greedy Peasant, who chose to use the Saint Snap System to adorn his outfit with luxurious faux pearls; right: The Greedy Peasant during his presentation on the profound meaning he finds in the construction of tassels

Inside the Episcopal church on Saturday, attendees marveled at each other’s sartorial creations while eating snacks, drinking wine, buzzing around craft tables, and entering their names into a raffle for a range of tours of the cathedral, merch, and papier-mâché model crafted by Tsukerman of wacky details from its tapestry collection.

A range of artists — from drag queens and other professional clothing designers to those who had only recently picked up a needle and thread — were inspired by the Greedy Peasant’s unique blend of poking fun at the oddities of Catholic lore with an insatiable appetite for quirky art history. Some attendees used his “patented” Saint Snap System, which he defined for Hyperallergic as a “a sustainable ornamentation application system where peasants attach decorations to snaps,” to affix tassels of all colors and sizes onto their vestments; others offered their own spin on the loosely Medieval theme, from dragon and frog costumes inspired by tapestries and manuscripts to protest signs demanding to “End the 100 Years War.”

Left to right: Justin Campbell, Katy Cole, Robert Head, and two artists who identified themselves simply as “two weirdos having fun.” The attendee second from the right created a headpiece inspired by tasseled galero hats worn by bishops before the Catholic Church’s modernization efforts of Vatican II.

Before being serenaded by TRANScend, a New York-based trans and genderfluid classical choir, attendees were given a warm welcome by The Very Reverend Dr. Patrick Malloy, the dean of the cathedral. Father Malloy was on the Episcopal Church’s committee to create rites to bless gay couples in 2012, and had in fact performed a same-sex marriage ceremony the previous day that has been allowed in the church since 2015.

Father Malloy told Hyperallergic that he increased his efforts to schedule robust Pride month programming after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. “When you start attacking women, it’s not long before you start attacking gay people.”

Many live with trauma from experiences of Christian fundamentalist homophobia, particularly during a time of increased conservatism. Indeed, some attendees giggled knowingly at Father Malloy’s suggestion that they usually wouldn’t be caught anywhere near a church, even one as welcoming as St. John the Divine. Others identify as Christians estranged from the church, like friends Jane Kotapish and Darcy Draeger. They say that Greedy Peasant offered a way to reconnect to the religious identities they had growing up.

“I really connected with the iconography and the humor,” said Draeger, who held a stuffed lamb in her homage to the depiction of St. Agnes in the Catholic children’s book The Picture Book of Saints.

“He’s kind of like a bridge for people who feel othered by their own faith,” Kotapish said of Greedy Peasant. “He brings joy back into it.”

Left: Sam Bennett poses in plaid; center: Emma Wheylin stuns in royal purple; right: Nina Urban crowned her yellow ensemble with a halo of blooming faux-flowers.

Friends Hilary and Mel, who say, “We feel like too much is just enough.”

For the Greedy Peasant himself, the very exuberance of his ensembles is its own form of liberation and expression.

“When I was a peasant child and had to wear ‘church clothes’ every Sunday, the khaki pants and button-down shirts felt like the most boring possible outfit option,” he told Hyperallergic . “And so with this event, I wanted people to have the opportunity to come into a church in the most exciting ensembles they could create which truly reflected their identity.”

One attendee, Hilary, spoke to the inspiration behind her light-up dayglo blue ensemble of tule and butterflies: “For some reason, I thought, ‘The world is so dark … I just want to be butterflies. A cloud of butterflies.” Her friend Mel, also draped in blue tule, chimed in: “And I just wanted to be a cloud!”

At the end of the evening, the grand hall of the historic cathedral was lit up in the six traditional pride colors, and crowned near the altar with the pastel blue and pink lights of the trans flag. Fabulously decked-out Color Team Leaders shepherded the pilgrims based on the color of their outfits into a grand procession in the order of the rainbow, filling the sanctuary before spilling into the night in a glorious mosaic of queer Medieval joy.