Forget buying a new bathing suit; each year, performers in Edinburgh, Scotland’s Beltane Fire Festival welcome summer with flames and nudity.
Beltane , in font you were n’t up - to - engagement on your ancient Gaelic history , is a Pagan holiday celebrated on May 1 , halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice . The Beltane festival marks the first of summertime , and celebrates thefertilityof the approaching year . It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festival — along withSamhain(more commonly known as Halloween these days ) , Imbolc and Lughnasadh .
Fire play an important role in the Beltane celebration : historically , flame , dope , and ash tree from balefire provoke during the festival were retrieve to have protective top executive . All household fires would be dowse and then re - light from the Beltane balefire .
During the Beltane fete , food and drink would be offered to theaos sí , the faery . home and Bos taurus were then adorn with white-livered May flowers , another conjuring of fire .
Sporting only red body paint and loin clothes, members of the Beltane Fire Society run through a muddy field with their torches while celebrating.
In modern times , the Beltane Fire Society has revived these ancient traditions by celebrate theBeltane Fire Festivalon April 30 in Calton Hill Park :
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A procession of women in white dresses perform on the National Monumen, called the Acropolis by members of the Beltane Fire Society, at the beginning of the festival. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Fiery drawings representing the journey of the Green Man and the May Queen light up the Acropolis. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Performers dressed in white form a procession through Calton Hill Park. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Members of the Beltane Fire Society take part in Samhuinn which tells the Celtic story of the overthrowing of Summer by Winter, with a stand-off between the Summer and Winter Kings. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
A procession marches through Calton Hill park while holding torches during the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Women wearing leafy green crowns and white robes make up part of the ceremony’s opening procession. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
The procession down the Acropolis is followed by drummers. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Members of the public wait to watch performers celebrate the coming of summer by during the Beltane Fire Festival on Calton Hill. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
More drummers, this time wearing black body paint, follow the procession away from the Acropolis. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Beltane Fire Society performers celebrate the coming of summer. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Members of the Beltane Fire Society celebrate the end of winter in white dresses and flower crowns. Photo: Matt Cardy / Getty Images
Revelers brandish torches at Calton Hill. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Wielding torches, Green Man and his female companion, the May Queen, light a bonfire during the festival to signify the start of summer. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell
The May Queen takes center stage during the festival. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
In Edinburgh, a member of the Beltane Fire Society painted himself blue as part of the Beltane Fire Festival on Calton Hill. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
A cloaked man wearing an ominous white mask complete with antlers takes part in the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
torches abound at Beltane. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
A masked performer gazes into his torch during the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images
A member of Beltane Fire Society dances near the fire during the festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Fire dancers paint themselves red and wield torches during the raucous Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Festivalgoers dance amid the flames. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
At the end the festival, the performers dressed in red and white dance on the part of the park the Fire Society calls the Bower. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
