Turning up the heat for the biggest Beltane of them all

[icymist]

FOR some people, the Beltane Fire Festival is nothing more than a bunch of hippies getting drunk, getting naked and lighting hazardous fires on a hilltop. But there's a lot more to Edinburgh's festival of pagans and wiccans than that. This month Beltane celebrates its 20th anniversary, with a fortnight of activities, workshops and seminars leading up to the 30 April ceremony. Among the events is a photo exhibition at the Bongo Club and a geological tour of Arthur's Seat. The day itself will see the first ever Beltane green audit, to assess the event's impact on the environment.

Pete Renwick, now in his third year of producing the event, is excited about this development. "I've been involved with Beltane since I came over to Edinburgh ten years ago and performed in it, so I've loved watching it grow. The environment initiative is great because we'll be able to recycle a lot of the waste left on Calton Hill, and it's fitting that a fire festival should be assessing its environmental impact. We're marking the anniversary with a buzz of activity and have a special performance from some of the people who were involved from the outset, such as Lyndsey John and Angus Farquhar, who'll be doing a performance at the fire arch."

The Beltane Fire Festival celebrates the heritage of Gaelic history, and marks the blossoming of spring and fertility. The name Beltane is thought to have derived from a Celtic word meaning "bright fire"; the fire represents the sun burning away the winter darkness, and the community pass through it to be purified and circle it for good luck.

Over the past two decades Beltane has hosted 150,000 spectators and 5,000 performers, with ticket sales reaching 12,000 last year. On the night itself the performers lead a torchlit procession around Calton Hill, moving through the fire gate and then to points representing the four elements. The story is of the Royal Court, consisting of the May Queen (goddess of spring), her White Women protectors and Blue Men orderlies. The Royals are pitted against Red Men, who bring chaotic disorder and try to disrupt the procession with libidinous behaviour. It ends spiritedly with the rebirth of the Green Man, representing the first summer growth.

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