Thousands of revellers lit up the night sky above Scotland’s capital to celebrate the start of spring Pagan-style.
A huge crowd came together on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill to mark the end of the colder seasons and welcome the beginning of the warmer months with Beltane Fire Festival.
More than eight thousand people made the pilgrimage to this year’s festival, which has become a long-standing Edinburgh cultural staple since it began in 1988.
They were treated to acrobatic displays, music and drumming under the light of burning torches as the festivities, led by the May Queen and her court, lit Calton Hill with a spectacular fire show.
Modern takes on the ancient Celtic festivals have been growing in popularity in the UK - with Edinburgh’s Beltane night just one of several taking place around the country.
The Beltane Fire Festival is the spring and summer counterpart to Samhuinn Fire Festival, which is held at Holyrood Park on 31 October.
READ MORE: Samhuinn fire festival performers light up Edinburgh, in pictures
READ MORE: Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations begin with torchlight parade
The events are immersive experiences, which involve re-imaginings of ancient Celtic festivals which marked the turning of the seasons.
Sammi Searle, Beltane Fire Society’s Chair said: “It’s been an incredible honour to once again return to Calton Hill to light the fires of Beltane and mark the arrival of summer.
“We are so grateful to all of our creative volunteers and collaborators who have given so much of their time, skill and love to bringing this event together.
“The Beltane Fire Festival is a living, breathing entity that brings together both the community and the landscape in this modern world, and this year’s celebration has been focused on acknowledging the climate crisis and how it has already impacted seasonal cycles and natural rhythms.”
The Beltane Fire Society is a charity run by volunteers, dedicated to marking the fire festivals of the ancient Celtic calendar and keeping traditional Scottish skills of street theatre, music and pageantry alive.
Ms Searle added: “Last night’s festival was an invitation to imagine how we can come together as a community to realign those cycles and step into the future with unity and positivity.
“Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who came to celebrate with us and we hope everyone can carry this seed of optimism with them into the summer months. Happy Beltane!"
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here