Last night Edinburgh held the annual fertility and beginning-of-summer ritual, Edinburgh’s Beltane Fire festival.
Matthew Richardson:
“The performance has two main characters – the May Queen who represents the mother earth, and the Green Man who represents nature and the energy of summer. The festival takes the form of a procession around Calton Hill following the Green Man in his winter form, meeting various groups along the way, such as the Red Men and their Beastie Drummers. It ends with a ritual killing and rebirth of the Green Man, stripped of his winter guise and resurrected in his spring form. We then light the bonfire on the hill, representing the heat and light of the summer.”
Blimey. Beltane’s over with barely a whisper. Am minding mad, epic nights of drinking, dancing and dawns through in Edinburgh many years ago
— Colin Campbell (@twistedmouth) April 30, 2012
People say Beltane‘s not what it used to be, but then… they always did.
Europe’s biggest fire festival: tonight Calton Hill, #edinburgh #Beltane DRUMS! FIRE! NUDITY! If you’re not there, you’re in the wrong place
— The Bow Bar(@bow_bar) April 30, 2012
I was not there. (The last time I went was in 1989.)
Beltane Fire Festival: one of the weirdest, coolest things I have ever experienced. In love with Edinburgh.
— Emma Friedheim (@emrosemary) April 30, 2012
Lying awake in the dark listening to Pagan drums, roars and screams #beltane #edinburgh
— James Mellers (@thismanslife) April 30, 2012
At this weird thing in Edinburgh and there’s these people in black capes and masks… DEATHEATERS!!! #Beltane
— Poppy Sayer-Payne (@poppysayerpayne) April 30, 2012
BBC Weather is set at Right Miserable for the next few days. So… still an atheist.
Beltane fire festival tonight. If religion works, that means summer weather starts tomorrow. Otherwise I’m still an atheist. #Beltane2012
— EdinburghEye (@EyeEdinburgh) April 30, 2012
Edinburgh Eye 