Forget buying a new bathing suit; each year, performers in Edinburgh, Scotland's Beltane Fire Festival welcome summer with flames and nudity.
Beltane, in case you weren’t up-to-date 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 beginning of summer, and celebrates the fertility of the coming year. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain (more commonly known as Halloween these days), Imbolc and Lughnasadh.
Fire plays an important role in the Beltane festivities: historically, flames, smoke, and ashes from bonfires kindled during the festival were thought to have protective powers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire.
During the Beltane feast, food and drink would be offered to the aos sí, the faeries. Homes and cattle were then decorated with yellow May flowers, another invocation of fire.
In modern times, the Beltane Fire Society has revived these ancient traditions by celebrating the Beltane Fire Festival on April 30 in Calton Hill Park:
Sporting only red body paint and loin clothes, members of the Beltane Fire Society run through a muddy field with their torches while celebrating. Getty Images
2 of 24
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
3 of 24
Fiery drawings representing the journey of the Green Man and the May Queen light up the Acropolis. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
4 of 24
Performers dressed in white form a procession through Calton Hill Park. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
5 of 24
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
6 of 24
A procession marches through Calton Hill park while holding torches during the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
7 of 24
Women wearing leafy green crowns and white robes make up part of the ceremony's opening procession. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
8 of 24
The procession down the Acropolis is followed by drummers. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
9 of 24
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
10 of 24
More drummers, this time wearing black body paint, follow the procession away from the Acropolis. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
11 of 24
Beltane Fire Society performers celebrate the coming of summer. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
12 of 24
Members of the Beltane Fire Society celebrate the end of winter in white dresses and flower crowns. Photo: Matt Cardy / Getty Images
13 of 24
Revelers brandish torches at Calton Hill. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
14 of 24
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
15 of 24
The May Queen takes center stage during the festival. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
16 of 24
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
17 of 24
A cloaked man wearing an ominous white mask complete with antlers takes part in the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
18 of 24
torches abound at Beltane. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
19 of 24
A masked performer gazes into his torch during the Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: AFP/ Getty Images
20 of 24
A member of Beltane Fire Society dances near the fire during the festival. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
21 of 24
Fire dancers paint themselves red and wield torches during the raucous Beltane Fire Festival. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
22 of 24
Festivalgoers dance amid the flames. Photo: Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
23 of 24
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
Elisabeth Sherman is a writer living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She holds a Master's in writing from Columbia University, and her work has appeared in Food & Wine, The Guardian, Yahoo, BBC, HuffPost, VICE, MSN, and Vulture.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.
Citation copied
COPY
Cite This Article
Sherman, Elisabeth. "The Beltane Fire Festival Welcomes Summer With Flames, Nudity, Masks, And More." AllThatsInteresting.com, April 30, 2016, https://allthatsinteresting.com/beltane-fire-festival. Accessed August 25, 2025.
