Spring in the air as Beltane attracts 8000 revellers

Published on Monday 2 May 2005 12:24

MORE than 8000 revellers turned out on Calton Hill to celebrate the onset of summer at the Beltane Fire Festival.

More than 100 drummers and dancers joined in a fire-lit procession around the hill, led by the May Queen and her warrior women, all dressed in white.

A total of 8500 tickets were sold for the event - the second to be held after a two-year break. Festival organisers last year decided to ticket the event in a bid to help pay for the estimated 30,000 cost of staging Europe's biggest fire festival.

Scott Hamilton, 23, said: "It was an incredible atmosphere - everyone was getting into it.

"Some people were stripping off and dancing along behind the parade.

"It was totally unlike anything I’d ever been to before."

Pension advisor Mr Hamilton, of Leslie Place, added: "It was a gigantic parade around the hill - really spectacular."

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders police said: "It was a good natured crowd and a good time was had by all."

Many Beltane followers traditionally spend the night on Calton Hill after the event, which was first staged in 1988, to witness the first dawn of spring according to the ancient Celtic calendar.

Beltane, which originates from a Gaelic pre-Christian festival, was recreated in a joint initiative between a group of enthusiasts and the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University.