raceofhearts:

the-squirrely-dixon:

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(via mayaminamoto)

After seeing it for the first time last year I immediately decided that I wanted more, I wanted to be a part of what I was seeing. So I started harassing the Beltane Fire Society’s contact email around January and a few weeks later after the general meeting I was oficially enlisted as a torchbearer-to-be.

For the next couple of weeks it was great and all the preparations were really fun, but it didn’t feel like it’s happening, didn’t feel real. Yesterday when I arrived at the getting-ready place and we started going crazy with all the face paint and cloaks and tabards is probably when it hit most of us - it was really happening! And so after we painted everything that was to be painted and donned our Night Watch garments we marched up the Calton Hill.

There we had a moment to go up to the bonfire and place a symbolic token of the past that we wanted to let go of in the pyre, and after grabbing our torches and torchballs we were ready! The voices of thousands of people echoed around as we stood in formation behind the acropolis waiting for the signal to start the show. With a satisfying woosh the neidfire was lit and it all began! The May Queen, the Green Man, all the white women, processional drummers, beasties, elementals and all the other groups. And us - the Night Watch, keeping the procession safe and lighting the way with our torches, all ignited from the first spark of the neidfire. It was pure magic, and the nearly four hours flew by like you wouldn’t believe.

Around 1am it was over. Time to stand down and return our torches and the beltane gear. I decided to join the little crowd at the slowly emptying Bower, and a few minutes later approached our lovely May Queen to receive blessings and simply share the joy of the evening. If I had to pick the most magical moment it would definitely be this - the perfect end of an unreal experience. Walking with the procession under the Fire Arch would be the close second. It’s all hard to describe, but this evening felt really special, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced…

But the night was only beginning. After returning all that was to be returned we split into little groups and marched off the hill to The Caves - imagine a few hundred people crowd just marching in a steady stream through the middle of the city, we must have been quite a sight. The club itself was great, hard to imagine a better place for a Beltane afterparty. Our drummers quickly took over the main stage, and with two drumming groups on two stages there was no end to crazy dancing. And there’s nothing like frantic dancing to live drums, letting the beat take over. There was so much energy in this crowd of painted, oddly clothed people it’s hard to imagine - it reminded me of a certain scene in The Matrix, with the people of Zion dancing in the cave - it felt exactly like that, only with more joy and energy flowing around, absolutely unbelievable!

And about 4:30 it was time to get going once again. We departed from The Caves and marched for the secret after-afterparty that doesn’t happen, in a vale in the Holyrood Park. And once again the time seemed to speed up with the bonfire, drumming and lovely beverages to keep us warm and entertained. It felt great, and with all the tricks the time played on us it finally didn’t feel like the whole Beltane was just over in an instant. A good few dozens of us managed to make it to the after-afterparty. At some point the Green Man joined us and it just seemed so perfect, being able to receive the May Queen’s blessings up on Calton Hill and then a few hours after that share what the Beltane meant to me with the Green Man. It made for a really amazing night.

I dozed off some time after 10am by the fire just to wake up around 1pm, and after gathering all the stuff we brought with us we marched off once again, for the traditional last men standing breakfast briefly interrupted by some more wine drinking. Returning home about 27 hours after I departed for the preparations I can say with all confidence, it has been the best night of my life, and thank you to everyone who made it happen!