The Beltane Festival Part 3!

[Miss Muffet]

Here is as much information as I could find on the Beltane Festival. I know, it's very long,:sorry: but there was so much that I felt was integral to the event. I hope you find the time to read through it as I'm sure you will find some (if not all) of it interesting. As it is too long for one post I have split it into 3 sections - origins and 2 character sections.

Every year on the night of April 30th, the Beltane Fire Festival is held on Calton Hill, Edinburgh. First organised in the mid 1980’s, the festival has become a much-loved feature of the Edinburgh calendar. Famous for its colour and intensity, around 15,000 revellers flock to share in the experience and join the procession. The origins of the festival are to be found in the Scottish and Irish-Gaelic Pagan festival of the same name. The name itself is thought to have been derived from a Gaelic-Celtic word meaning ‘bright/sacred fire’. It was held to mark and celebrate the blossoming of spring, and coincided with the ancient pastoral event of moving livestock to their summer grazing. It was a celebration of the fertility of the land and their animals. There was no fixed solar date (the tradition of solstices and equinoxes is later in origin) but it was usually held on the first full moon after the modern 1st of May. It has been suggested that the blooming of the Hawthorn was the primary signal for the event before centralised calendars were developed. The key traditional factor which was common to all Beltane festivals was the fire which gave it its name. Every fire in the community would be extinguished and a new, sacred 'Need Fire' would be lit by either the village head or spiritual leader. From this source fire one or two bonfires were lit, then the community animals would be driven through or between them. The belief was that the smoke and flame of the fires would purify the herd, protecting them in the year to come and ensuring a good number of offspring. The villagers would then take pieces of the fire to their homes and relight their hearths, and dance clockwise around the bonfires to ensure good portents for them and their families.

Please take the time to read parts 2 and 3 on the characters of the festival.