Edinburgh set to host the Beltane Fire Festival

Tourists planning to stay in Edinburgh hostels may be interested in attending the Beltane Fire Festival.

Taking place on April 30th, the annual event is held to celebrate the start of summer.

Edinburgh's official tourism board reveals that the festival is famous for its intensity and colour, with its Gaelic name meaning bright or sacred fire.

A statement on the website said: "[The Beltane Fire Festival is] a unique and wild procession of fire, drumming and revelry on Calton Hill.

"An audience of around 12,000 people come to share the spectacular procession. Witness this spectacular revival of the ancient Celtic fertility festival in the heart of the Scottish capital."

It has been held since the mid 1980s and has since become a much-loved feature on Edinburgh's calendar of events.

The Beltane Fire Festival has pagan roots, when all fires in a village would be extinguished and a new sacred one would be lit.

It was believed that the smoke and flame of the fires would purify the herd and protect the villages in the year to come.
 

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