Beltane Fire Festival
Beltane was so much fun! I didn't get to see too much because I didn't really know where I was suppose to go and/or I'm too short to see over large crowds of people.
For those of you who don't know what the Beltane Fire Festival is all about (that's probably everyone) it's a fire festival held the evening of April 30 through to the after midnight on May 1 on Calton Hill in Edinburgh that is based on a pre-Christain celebration of the coming of spring and fertility with large groups of dancers, jugglers,and all sorts of performers that ends with the marriage of the May Queen to the Green Man. You can read more about it here.
Like I said I didn't get to see that much, but I had a really good view of the 'fire' performers who did all sorts of cool/crazy things with... welll.. fire! There were people dancing with they wooden things that were shaped like birds.. on fire, people beating drums..on fire.. with drum sticks..also on fire, people dancing with these crazy s&m type neck collars and back braces which were..on fire.. who danced around, did gymnatics, and formed a giant dragon with their bodies, people whelding flaming whips which threw...fire, ending with a man coming out in a giant metal dragon puppet (think Chinese new years dragon) which they lite.. on fire.. and it then breathed .. fire (I also know the guy who was in the dragon which is really, really cool).
Also got a fairly good look at the 'reds' who are painted red, naked except for a poorly made thong and are supposed to represent sexuality and chaos ( they split off of 'fire' group) they didnt do much other then dance around naked making suggestive dances, humpin torches, and grinding the air.. but it was kind of cool all the same.
My camera couldnt take very good pictures, but you can see some on this site and I should get photos from one of my friends soon..
Happy Beltane everyone!
For those of you who don't know what the Beltane Fire Festival is all about (that's probably everyone) it's a fire festival held the evening of April 30 through to the after midnight on May 1 on Calton Hill in Edinburgh that is based on a pre-Christain celebration of the coming of spring and fertility with large groups of dancers, jugglers,and all sorts of performers that ends with the marriage of the May Queen to the Green Man. You can read more about it here.
Like I said I didn't get to see that much, but I had a really good view of the 'fire' performers who did all sorts of cool/crazy things with... welll.. fire! There were people dancing with they wooden things that were shaped like birds.. on fire, people beating drums..on fire.. with drum sticks..also on fire, people dancing with these crazy s&m type neck collars and back braces which were..on fire.. who danced around, did gymnatics, and formed a giant dragon with their bodies, people whelding flaming whips which threw...fire, ending with a man coming out in a giant metal dragon puppet (think Chinese new years dragon) which they lite.. on fire.. and it then breathed .. fire (I also know the guy who was in the dragon which is really, really cool).
Also got a fairly good look at the 'reds' who are painted red, naked except for a poorly made thong and are supposed to represent sexuality and chaos ( they split off of 'fire' group) they didnt do much other then dance around naked making suggestive dances, humpin torches, and grinding the air.. but it was kind of cool all the same.
My camera couldnt take very good pictures, but you can see some on this site and I should get photos from one of my friends soon..
Happy Beltane everyone!