Beltane Festival 2011

Although it has now become associated with a cod-paganism – with fundamentalist Christians worrying at the foot of Carlton Hill about satanism and the emphasis on the ancient roots of the Celtic fire festival – Edinburgh's Beltane originally emerged from the late 1980s dance music scene, and was conceived as a protest against the government's attempts to close down public gatherings of ravers. Wikipedia lists musical collective Test Dept's Angus Farquhar and Glasgow's master of Butoh, Lindsay John, as instigators: while the format was shaped by research into ancient rituals, its immediate meaning was far more political than religious.

The annual jamboree on Carlton Hill, now joined by a parallel Samhuinn in October, symbolises the arrival of Spring through a mixture of ritual drama, drumming and crowd participation. The Beltane society operates throughout the year – that a handfasting ceremony has become attached to the event suggests how seriously it has been taken – and builds up teams of Red and Blue Men, spectacular puppets, in the style of totems or wicker men for an immersive event that has grown from its counter-cultural beginnings to become part of Edinburgh's cultural establishment.

The current Beltane Fire Society stresses how each of the elements within the event symbolise different aspects of the Celtic mythology, while retaining an imaginative reinterpretation of the past. The ascension of the May Queen, and her dispelling of the winter court that has dominated the past months, claims a pre-Christian heritage: the Green Man, her consort, has appeared in mythology and fairy stories around the world.

As Beltane has grown, its original political intentions have been hidden by the charm of the ritual: the introduction of tickets was controversial, but ensured the festival's survival and respectability. However, as the Conservatives return to power, and public assembly becomes contested once again, perhaps Beltane will recover some of its revolutionary intent.