Beltane Fire Festival
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Beltane Fire Festival is an annual
Historical background
The modern Beltane Fire Festival is inspired by the ancient Gaelic festival of Beltane which began on the evening before 1 May and marked the beginning of summer.[1][2][3] The modern festival was started in 1988 by a small group of enthusiasts including the musical collective Test Dept, with academic support from the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Since then the festival has grown, and now involves over 300 voluntary collaborators and performers with available tickets often selling out.
While the festival draws on a variety of historical, mythological and literary influences, the organisers do not claim it to be anything other than a modern celebration of Beltane, evolving with its participants.[4]
Modern festival
The current Beltane was started in 1988 by a small group of enthusiasts including Angus Farquhar of the musical collective
The
As a community event, each year the performance has evolved as new people bring their own influences and directions. The core narrative remains by and large the same though additional elements have been added over time for theatrical, ritual, and practical reasons. Originally an event with a core of a dozen performers and a few hundred audience, the event has grown to several hundred performers and over ten thousand audience. Key characters within the performance are maintained, though reinterpreted by their performers, and additional participants incorporated each year.
Originally, the festival was free and only lightly stewarded, however, as the event has grown in popularity, due to the capacity of the hill, funding requirements, and
Gallery of Beltane photographs
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The need-fire is created, and from it the torches lit
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The May Queen enters with her handmaidens
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The procession passes under Fire Arch
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The May Queen leads the procession
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The White Women march on through the crowds
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The burning Phoenix and fire-twirling sprites
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The Reds
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The Bonfire lit to welcome the Beltane morning with a ritual dancer
References
- ISBN 0-19-280120-1pp. 39, 400-402, 421
- ISBN 0-500-27872-5. pp. 206-10
- ISBN 0-85335-162-7pp. 56
- ^ Beltane Fire Society - Official event website
External links
- Beltane Fire Society - The official BFS website and blog
- Introduction to Beltane and interview with Festival "Scribe" Tanya
- Azure Feast - A musical suite inspired by the Beltane Fire
- The Beltane Festival revealed - bbc.co.uk
- Behind the pomp of Beltane Festival - bbc.co.uk
- Edinburgh Festival Guide Beltane Fire Festival Listing