Beltane Fire Festival

[Pagan Hibernia]

Calton hill, end of april. Anyone been to this? Worth going to would you say?

[hibsbollah]

I went once about 20 years ago, it was A lot of young hippies and ravers getting off their tits while older hippies do a lot of ritualistic pseudo religious stuff. Depends if that’s your bag. I’d imagine it might have changed quite a lot since then, it’s probably got all corporate like everything else :greengrin

[speedy_gonzales]

There's a website by the Beltane Society explaining all, www.beltane.org.
I've been to both Beltane (Spring) and Samhuinn (Autumn). It's all based on the seasonal changes from a Celtic/Pagan point of view with the story being told by a few main characters surrounded by various troops/entertainers including dancers, actors, musicians etc.
The story is told through different stages, where winter hands over to summer, or vice versa, and the society does this by moving around the top of Carlton Hill so there's a lot going on, no two events are the same but Samhuinn which usually lands on Halloween, is my favourite.
There can be nudity but there's always bodypaint and fantastic costumes.
The event is now ticketed (which upset a lot of the true Pagans amongst us) but I think it's a fantastic event, and if it lands on a non-school night (because it runs very late) then it's a great experience for the younger ones.

[superfurryhibby]

Key point, it's performance art, a not a pagan religious event.