Beltane (Beltaine)…one of the eight main Celtic Festivals recognised by Celts, Pagans and Wiccans as sabbats, marks the ending of Winter and the coming of Summer. Spring has sprung, nature is in bloom and the earth is full of life.
In Edinburgh every year on April 30th, the Beltane Society host the Beltane Fire Festival on Carlton Hill, an amazing spectacle in every way……fire (obviously), dancing, ritual, procession, and drums….oh my, the drums…the sound goes to your very soul!
I haven’t been to Beltane in over 20 years or so, being out of the country or raising small children with no sitter. So last night I went with friends, full of anticipation and although it was a wonderful evening it was rather marred by the amount of drunken louts who were only there because it was a cheap night out and they had nothing better to do. They had absolutely no idea what the ceremony was about and didn’t take the time to find out. I even heard one person say ‘oh, it’s not serious, it’s just a laugh’. As my friend very rightly pointed out, would you say that if I were to go drunk into your church during a service and act the fool? There were some very disrespectful people there.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against people having a good time – after all, Beltane is a time of celebration. However, there were plenty of people there who were having a wonderful time, without being disrespectful or arrogant.
So back to Beltane….the night started with the lighting of the fires on the top of the acropolis and the arrival of the May Queen.
We stood at the fire gate behind the acropolis and we had a fantastic view, much better than had we stood at the front, as the crowds were so thick there we would have been hard pressed to see anything. The May Queen, Green Man and the elementals then proceeded down through the fire gate and past the fire elementals. Kudos to the fire elementals especially, it was a cold night to be prancing around mostly naked.
This is where we got confused….we headed down to the handfasting tent to watch the ‘marriage’ of the May Queen and Green Man, however instead of coming up to the tent, they bypassed it and headed down the hill and up to the entrance of Carlton Hill where the procession split into two with the May Queen going one way and the Green Man another.
The crowds were so thick by this time, we missed the lighting of the bonfires and the other ceremonies, but we did have a cracking view of the fires lit at the top of the hill. However, we figured they had to come back up anyway so we stayed put and had a fantastic view of the closing ceremony. What we could see of it anyway…the stewards and torch-bearers lined the walkway and it was very difficult to get photos of this, although we did manage to peek over their shoulders to catch glimpses of it. Being tall definitely has it’s advantages at this point – unfortunately I’m only 5’2.
It would’ve been nice to see more respect, less fish and chip and burger vans and more handcrafts and traditional foods, but all in all, it was a fabulous night and one I’m glad I managed to get to this year.
I’ve added a couple of photo’s I managed to get, plus some wonderful ones my daughter’s friend Chishu took, but if anyone has more they’d like me to add, I’d love to see them.
