Celtic festival will set the city alight

Published on Wednesday 4 April 2007 11:52

A WEEK-long series of events is being planned to mark the 20th anniversary of Edinburgh's world famous fire festival.

Organisers of the Beltane are staging events ranging from walking tours to a photography exhibition in the run-up to the big day. They are also aiming to make the April 30 event more environmentally friendly by promoting recycling and car-sharing initiatives, along with plans to plant trees to offset carbon emissions.

Just a couple of hundred revellers first gathered on Calton Hill to celebrate the start of spring in 1987, but it is now Europe's biggest fire festival.

The ancient Celtic celebration has become a fixture of the Edinburgh events calendar, and last year was a 12,000 sell-out.

Chle Dear, a founding member of the Beltane organising committee, has been involved since 1993 and said the event had gone from strength to strength over the past 20 years.

She said: "Beltane is now very much part of Edinburgh, whereas in the past it was always thought of as something on the fringes.

"There has been an effort to make it more open and this has widened its appeal both with residents and the authorities.

"It is certainly less wild than it was at the start, but the ethos is still the same."

It is estimated around 5000 performers and 150,000 spectators have been involved with Beltane in the past two decades.

On the night itself, hundreds of performers lead a fire-lit procession around the hill. They move through a fire gate and round points representing earth, air, water and fire.

Among the events planned to mark the anniversary is a photographic exhibition at The Bongo Club on Holyrood Road.

A guided tour of the geological wonders of Arthur's Seat will take place on the two Sundays preceding Beltane, and revellers will get the chance to take part in traditional storytelling, body painting and ceremonial theatre workshops on the weekend before.

A wild herb walk, exploring the edible and medicinal herbs on the city's Cammo Estate, will take place on April 21. Lord Provost Lesley Hinds said: "Beltane fire festival is one of the most exuberant and unique events in the city's events calendar.

"Its continued success is down to the hard work of the organisers and fundraisers. I would like to congratulate them on reaching the milestone of their 20th year and look forward to the extended programme of events to mark the anniversary."

Festival volunteer Phyllis Martin will be carrying out Beltane's first ever green audit, where she will be assessing its impact on the environment.

She said: "This is a first for Beltane, but it is important to get a clear idea of its carbon footprint and ways to reduce this.

"One of the biggest things is transport, and we will be trying to get people to car-share or use public transport to get to the event. The green audit will help us plan for future events in a more environmentally friendly way."

Two hundred tickets have already been sold for this year's Beltane, and the remainder are on sale from The Hub, on Castlehill, for 5 each.

The festival is staged to herald the onset of spring according to the ancient Celtic calendar.

It sees a May Queen lead a procession of Blue Men and White Warrior Women (standing for truth, law and order) from the Acropolis to around the hill.

The marchers are ambushed by the Red Men and their Beastie Drummers (representing chaos) and the event climaxes with the appearance of the Green Man, who represents summer's first growth.