We Went to Scotland's Wildest Pagan Festival
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- Each year, Edinburgh holds the Beltane Fire Festival, a celebration marking the beginning of summer. Rooted in ancient Gaelic traditions, it began as a way to reconnect with ancient traditions and celebrate the cycles of nature. The event has now blossomed into a vibrant event, drawing over 8,000 attendees each year.
At the heart of the festival are the May Queen and the Green Man. The May Queen represents the earth's renewal, while the Green Man symbolizes growth and fertility. We also spoke with Angus Farquhar, the visionary founder of the modern Beltane Fire Festival. Experience the enchantment, the tradition, and the energy that marks the beginning of summer in Edinburgh. 🏴
#Edinburgh #Festival #Travel
00:00 Intro
00:19 The origins of Beltane
01:37 The festivals revival
02:39 Meet the Blues
03:42 The May Queen and Green Man
04:59 Beltane begins
06:26 The walk around Calton Hill
07:24 Event finale
08:11 Conclusion
Lead Producer/Editor - Steven Kelly
Exec Producer - Genevieve Ingham
Producer/Camera - Stuart Smillie
Camera - James Rayner
Graphics - Will Minns
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Tell us about the craziest festival you've been to 🫣
Lost Lands! you guys should definitely do a video on that one!!
@@CJ_222hi
La vela Muxe in Juchitán, Oaxaca, México! The celebration of the 3rd gender!
Rambu Solo', Torajan people funeral festival ❤❤❤
Wow, all of these sound so interesting! 😯
Ngl i see this out of my flat and was completely clueless what on earth was happening - now i know! Great vid, really intriguing!
😂
You unknowingly got a front row seat to the festival 😅 Love it!
It breaks my heart when people comment and think that this is somehow evil worship. And, just like what mostly squashed the old cultures, traditions, etc. of the Celtic people (let alone the rest of Europe) people today still look at it as cringe, evil worship, or satansim. Let people be and let cultures be reborn! EVERYONE on this planet deserves to find the things that were taken from them and/or do with THEIR cultures as they see fit.
Edit: I say this as a Christian myself who, in fact, doesn’t practice any “traditional” ways of Christians either. The church is my forest and God everywhere. Let the natural ways of Earth prevail!
All three of the Middle Eastern monotheisms emphasize human repression and alienation from the natural world. It's no surprise that they would be frightened by an event that does exactly the opposite.
What makes you a Christian? What’s your belief?
@@OvertheseathroughthehillI apologize if this is long or hard to understand (as some of this is hard to explain) so, I’ll try to keep it short. I believe in Christ Jesus as my savior, and only through Him can we get to Heaven. Yet, I also am heavily aware of how different cultures are (and see NO WRONG) in this and in my own heart I feel a VERY strong calling to the old ways of my ancestry in every way except deity worship. While I would never worship the old gods like they do at Beltane, I do not see dancing, signing, etc. as they are doing here as devil worship or anything else than what they said because they literally said what they’re doing. To Christianity is it sinful because it’s not worshiping God? Yeah, but personally I am just happy other parts of the old ways are coming back. For I believe God is in all creation and many other things. While I would never worship creation, I recognize God in it all, and just how alive everything is in our world… how we are literally made from this world, sentience in animals, etc.. I believe it’s perfectly fine to honor, respect, etc. our world and its inhabitants, become one with them, etc.. Again, I apologize if this is hard to read and/or long… some things I’m still figuring out in what I’m aloud to do (God telling me) and how to explain his to people.
Edit: Word clarity
People think kids dressing up for Halloween and asking for candy is devil worship in America, don’t take those people seriously they are simply dumb😂
@@Sora-ud6dp I appreciate the love that I read and feel in your explanations. Do you believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one and that God came to Earth as Jesus, was crucified for our sins, died, was buried, rose from the dead and walked among us, then ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Have you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit will lead you to find all truths. All you have to do is ask for the Holy Spirit and trust God that you will receive Him and allow Him to guide you as you submit everything about yourself to Him to be first loved then examined and changed. For some people they are able to recognize that the Holy Spirit has come into them right away. For others it has happened they are not able to recognize it right away. It's ok to just accept that you are given the Holy Spirit when you ask and then seek Him within yourself thru prayer. I ask for Him to reveal Himself to me in a way that I can understand... Also confessing your sins and repenting causes you to be able to feel His presence more. For me I do this in my own personal prayers. I'm not Catholic. You don't have to confess to a priest to be able to do this. I confess every sin I can remember then I ask God to show me whatever I'm missing and then confess those and repent and then cover the rest by asking for forgiveness for anything I cannot remember or I may have missed. The Holy Spirits presence within you will be stronger after this.
Also I try to read my Bible every day. I pray everyday as well. I enjoy reading my Bible. It's exciting to me and there's a lot I don't understand. I don't worry about it. I just trust that God will lead me and guide me thru the Holy Spirit.
I have lived a very crazy life full of sin. I used to be a stripper and an IV drug user. If I can feel the Holy Spirit then I'm sure that most people can feel Him with a little work on their part too be able to recognize Him.
I would love to attend this magical and wonderful festival . It looks like a wonderful experience to have ,even if only once.
It'd be amazing to see this face to face!😍
Hopefully you will one day 💫🤞
The Beltane fire festival is a beautiful way of respecting history, Paganism is ancient, the original religion of Europe
"pagan (or paganus)" is the Roman Latin term for "country district" and specifically was used to refer to the people who still worshipped the old roman gods in the countryside once Christianity became the predominant religion of the empire. the term has nearly nothing to do with the ancient (and nearly impossible to claim as original, as someone always was there earlier) religions of Europe, beyond the occasional addition of local gods to the Roman pantheon
@@Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster That was then, this is now. The current common definition of "pagan" is someone who isn't a believer in the god of the Bible. But maybe in the case of folks in Scotland, you'd prefer the term heathen, which has nothing to do with the Romans?
@@c.a.t.732 heathen or animist are much more accurate terms from a historical or anthropological standpoint. the meanings of words change, but it just seems a bit unfortunate to call things paganism when it's fairly distant from the original usage.
@@Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster I actually tend to be a stickler for terms myself. But for quite awhile now Pagan or Neo Pagan have become somewhat standardized nomenclature for Wiccans, Goddess worshippers, followers of pre-Christian religions (or re-imagined versions of them anyway), etc.. As an old agnostic, I find it all interesting, and have even, at the invitation of "pagan" friends, gone to a gathering or two, but I didn't really fit in. But I wish them all well!
What I think is helpful about understanding the root of the word though is that it was a pejorative, but it also didn't necessarily mean non-Christian by the middle ages. Plenty of medieval pagans were just Christians who didn't practice the regulated version the Church wanted everyone to follow. People who had married together folk tradition with a devout belief in the Christian god.
And why we get so many people claiming continuity but forgetting that those people in the middle there were actually Christian. And Christianity has really shaped the folk traditions and religions which "survived". The fusion is inescapable for both sides.
That man lit a cultural spark that’s become a big beautiful yearly hearth for people to celebrate the coming spirit of the seasons, such deep historical roots connected to a movement all its own, people all around coming together must be so exhilarating! Would love to join some day 🏛️🔥
Great to see people returning to their indigenous spirituality. Better for the planet than religions that get people to put all their hopes on getting happiness, justice, and community in an afterlife rather than this life and protecting this biosphere as a wonderous gift.
"indigenous?" please. this is an amalgam of thousands of heathen practices from no particular region or origin. modern paganism is just a rejection of the tropes of more popular religions while using entirely anachronistic combinations of music, instrumentation, practices and costumes, as well as an incredible addition of new age iconography. half the interviewees are americans who have no indigenous practices.
I'm not saying the festival is a bad thing, I'm actually quite in favour of it. but I wouldn't claim it is any accurate representation of anything from any specific region or origin.
Haha this is not pagan, this is just halloween
There's nothing indigenous about this. Historically, there's never been any documentation of Europeans painting themselves fully blue like a smurf; did this type of paint even exist in Europe back before Christianity took over nevermind the ability to mass produce it enough to cover your ENTIRE body like in 3:03? There's actual traditional pagan practices, which I fully respect, and then there's... this.
@@Orwellian-Purple-Grapes-1984The Celts were documented by the Romans who claimed they were fully painted in blue
It’s impossible to return to what Celtic pangas religions actually were. For one because we lack the records of them, and second because they both involved human and animal sacrifice. There were also aspects of ritual war which can no longer be done. These people are practicing a modern religion, not an indigenous one.
I remember sitting in the center with my family when suddenly a congregation of red people with black robes were going about, they were looking at everyone with an eerie, and almost angry,look in their faces. It was an… interesting experience
I remember that hill from when I lived in Edinburgh as a child!
We're loving the nostalgia in the comments 🥹🫶
Thumbs up to keep tradition alive
What tradition, that's just a modern reconstruction.
@@kzm-cb5mrthe big stack of wood being lit on fire in one of the pics is def tradition though, usually done around easter
It’s not tradition, it’s a modern invented religion lightly an older religion we know very little about.
Would love to attend this festival someday. Really, I'd love to travel across Europe and have adventures there and meet people.
Kinda funny that the most prominent people in this Scottish festival (May Queen and Green Man) are both Americans. I say that as an American.
Well, Beltane Fire Society welcomes everyone regardless of nationality, and we select the deity roles according to who fits best out of the applicants and who has the best concept for their performance. The May Queen holds the role for several years, so Alix will remain in the role for a while yet, but the Green Man is selected each year. Previous Green Men include people from Scotland, other parts of the UK, France, and yes the USA
Beltane isn't a specifically Scottish thing. It's drawing on Celtic beliefs with a modern interpretation. In the Iron Age this festival was potentially practiced over a wide area of northern Europe. The same areas that a great many Americans originally came from. Even if they come from outwith Europe, there's nothing to say a person can't be involved. It's simply a celebration of the changing of the seasons, and anyone, of any age, sex, gender, nationality, etc, are welcome to participate.
I say that as a Gaelic speaking Highlander who was a Red Man back in the late 90's (and dragged a wooden tower along Princes Street and up the hill one year).
@@macgonzo I know Beltane is not precisely Scottish in origin, but this festival literally takes place in Scotland. That is what I am saying.
@@falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962 You said it was a "Scottish festival". The word choices and context make it clear that it's what you meant. Just accept that your point is nonsense and move on.
@@macgonzo the context is that the festival takes place in Scotland, which is why I thought it is funny that the two most prominent figures were not Scottish. You lack reading comprehension, and also seem a wee bit like you got a Beltane up your trousers. Cool off.
This is going on my bucket list!! As a Wiccan, this would be an amazing spiritual experience! Just hearing the snippets of drums and hearing people talk about it and seeing the procession fills me up with pride. I hope I am able to save up to attend this event while it continues! It always seems to be that I get to be old enough to do something or finally have the money to do something only to find out it got shut down a couple years before. Please keep this alive!
Isn't Wicca made up? Nothing of the old religions was written down. Shouldn't it be neo-witchcraft?
Would love to attend this Beltaine festival one day! I've always celebrated alone, but it would be so magical to celebrate with others. I'll be moving to Scotland next year if all goes well, so it will be much easier to attend. Hope everyone had a lovely Beltaine this year! ❤️
Hope your move to Scotland goes well and that you get to experience the festival while you're there 🫶
Interesting. Not for me, I'm a quiet person, but I like the idea of embracing the old ways. Instead of ideas foisted upon us from foreign lands.
Oh that looks so liberating! I would go to Scotland just for Beltaine!
I've wanted to go to the motherland since I was a young boy, now I just know what time of year I'll go.
I want to attend one of these beltane events and the may day/ green man celebrations. Beautiful traditions and culture
Great coverage of an amazing night.So proud to be a part of it xxx💖💜💖
🫶🫶
I love this video! So well done. This is why I’m so glad great big story is back.
Glad you bring back summer, Pagan goddess
There is no god named Pagan goddess.
@@stoveone4031 "Some people just want to spend a moment with the May Queen as a figure, a goddess", 8:07. In short I think no one wondered who @hurtighansen1 was referring to
@@Vantrakter Ty
@@Vantrakter Calling it the Pagan Goddess would be just as descriptive as calling it the Devil Goddess.
@@B4CKWARDS_CH4RM If you are a Christian from the year 1500, sure
I would love to attend this one year
fantastic video! Id love to attend this at least once in my life, the story of the may queen is so fascinating.
just go to church.
Well if you couldn't make make it this year then next year there will be another Beltane Fire Festival, same place on the same Hill. Just make sure to book a ticket and place to stay well in advance😊
lol. church is for prudes and fashies, no thanks.
This is not crazy at all but this feels the most natural festival that I have ever seen. I cannot wait to go next Beltane!
Gives Mid Sommer vibes 😎❤️
That's right 😎
Midsommar is the next festival after that. Beltane is the midpoint between Easter (the spring equinox) and Midsommar (the summer solstice). Beltane is also the polar opposite of Samhain. Whereas Samhain is the festival of death, Beltane is the festival of life.
This looks and sounds amazing! I've been to Edinburgh before for the Fringe Festival and I had a blast, but this has a wholesome spiritual quality to it that's my jam. I need to see if I can visit for next year!
I really want to go. It just jumped to the top of my vacation list!
I think I'll visit family there and check out the festival as well. Looks like a good time.
together , celebrate, good spirits, comunities, wishing well, conection to nature, going into summer together ... we need to use tose words more often
I love this, such a great festival!
This looks like such a fun time 😁
I would love to go to this! Looks like a ton of fun! ☺️🥰
I;m definitely going there! I've always wanted to go to a May Day Wicker Man-style festival! I want to dress up as a hare!
Folks curious about The Green Man might read Russell Hoban’s novel Riddley Walker. Whereas every woman is connected in an unbroken line of umbilical cords to the first human mother (literally), with men the chain is broken. The man becomes fertile in death. In the Green Man imagery, this fertility is represented by the leaves growing out of his mouth. The GM was a favourite theme of wood and stone carvers in the Middle Ages: it has been claimed that there are more GM in old British churches than crosses.
That parallels genetics. Mitochondrial DNA is passed through the female and is mostly unchanged while male DNA is always changing and variable.
keep calm and stick it up to Thatcher
I was at the first Beltane fire festival, it was unique x
What was your favorite part of the festival? 👀☺
The Germanic, Swedes and Scandinavian folk are really great for upholding these types of festivals...and of course the Garlic people..😊
Autocorrect strikes again. 🧄
@@musikgirl7maybe they don't like vampires...
*Gaelic
Crash Worship was a musical group from America that had a live experience that had this same level of mystical, sometimes scary, energy. This looks like a party.
This would be interesting to see
Being a part of something bigger than itself🩵
Oh i am SO doing this next year!
Yesss and let us know how your Beltane festival experience goes ☺️
I'm so happy to see your content again! I was wondering what happened to you guys.
Thank you for watching and check out our 'New Releases' playlist for our recent video uploads ☺ ruclips.net/p/PLMFGVXWuJ1C7Bcu6apMqmP3B0yL0BeJRe
Once a year, the white deer becomes the green man.
I live in the US and would love to attend. There’s a pagan group in San Diego, California that I have joined in their celebrations.
Added a new and amazing festival to my bucket list. Thankyou for sharing this video.
Loveee that!
I need to find more channels like these!
We're one of a kind 🤭🥰
that is so freaking beautiful, I wish I could attend one day
There was lot's of content that couldn't make it into the RUclips video. Might have to start releasing uncensored versions on the Patron 😅🤣
give the people what they want
OnlyStories
But then you would provide fuel for the negative viewers who imagine that there is a bad group of people doing bad stuff. Fae better to encourage visitors who will find out the truth.
🤣😂
A place to let loose and go a bit crazy for the better
Do Sammhuin next! Best experience of my life
So, a real matriarchal, pagan festival! Great!
Was a Red Man back in the late 90's, before it was a ticketed event. Burnt most of my goatee off while fire breathing one year 😂 It was quite a windy night 😂 Also dragged a massive tower along Princes Street and up this hill one year, which was mental 😂
It would be such an interesting experience to see in person. I would love to go one day 💖
Scotland, never change.
As a devout pagan, I appreciate that our way of life is finally being shared in a positive light, but there’s a few details that they got completely wrong 😵💫
1. This celebration is not just “old”, but ANCIENT. Predates Christianity by THOUSANDS of years.
2. The May Queen is actually “The Maiden”; one of three faces/phases of Goddess, and Beltane was celebrated because it is her wedding day to the Stag God of the green.
3. Beltane is a sacred time for us witches/pagans/wiccans, as a lot of us hold our own weddings on this day. It is also one of two times of year when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is thinnest, the other time being Samhain, AKA “Halloween”.
Hope this straightens things up! GBWY ✨🌱
Sounds like a lot of superstition.
Great Big Story is back!?!?
Yesss, we are ☺️ Check out our 'New Releases' playlist to catch up on our latest videos 🚀
What a beautiful religion. I'd give anything to be there.
I was under the impression that historically Beltane was more specifically about fertility.
historical accuracy is one of the last thing these people care about. it's just a guise applied to having fun and new age hedonism
Nothing wrong with it my dude. THings change over time. Lighten up a bit@@Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster
Who would imagine there are so many types of hippies!
Government didn't like it when it was a proposal to enact the beacons of old, ie the hills of Calton Hill, Arthurs Seat, and the trinity one "Traprain Law" , thesewould all have Beltane fires at the same time hence bringing the energies of the land up !!
Happy Birthday by Altered Images would've been perfect for this!!!
YASSSAAAAAAAA
Europe NEEDS more pagan festivals like this! Make Europe PAGAN again!
Which pagan religion? Germanic Woden and friends or Celtic fairies? Or are we going even older with the Bell beakers?
@@Maryland2All of it.
@@Maryland2 All of those.
Outlasted Thatcher - the people's festival has continued to grow in spirit and togetherness, ...as MT slowly drifted into the isolation of dementia and death.
MT is more well known than Beltane. This neo-paganism as well, does it link to the Scottish trajectory such as clamping down on free speech?
What a dream to attend 😩
Paganism: Each love is a soul and infinite multiverses.🌀🌌
Its always fascinating to see happenings like this. Very intreging i like to look a bit mor into this stuff because it feels so authentic and connected to us but never happening XD
I think in the USA we have this... It's called Burning Man 😂🔥
As an American (from the Pacific Northwest), I’m simply envious.
Of course you are, west coast people are lost souls.
The Edinburgh Festival .... Whooohaa...🤔... Ho...Ho. Ho. Santa sends his blessings, Love, Peace and Joy...
Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells all the way...😊😅...
Crowds + fire/soot/ash + loud sounds = a horrible time for someone like me lol. It looks cool, and the thought/story of it is neat...but woof i don't think i'd ever go to something like that. Burning man also seems like a nightmare.
Well Burning Man…that’s a desert country festival. Great for Mad Max maybe….
You might be thinking of the Rainbow Gathering.
Here in America, at the end of summer around late August the tribes gather at Black Rock City, Nevada for the annual Burning Man Festival...eighty thousand people or about ten times the population of the Beltrane Festival, are in attendance. Quite the experience I hear...too weird for me but I watch all the videos after the Festival as there are dozens of them every year. I think there are more and more of these pagan, tribal festivals all over the world.
Things like this are something wonderful that we as modern pagans are able to do. We can take influences from many different beliefs and create new traditions. We can celebrate the celtic Beltane in spring and the gernamic Yule in winter and its the community that is the most important part.
I think there's too much stock taken by modern pagans on faithfully reconstructing "the old ways" wothout any deviation. And leaves room for folkism.
The old ways weren't written down so are open to interpretation. In prior centuries, like the 19th, the old ways were presented more in a classical, artistic way, all about integrity and community service. Modern paganism seems more like modern society - instant self gratification. The Druid's Lodges of the 19th century are nothing like pagans of today.
May Queen? Interesting.
The large fires are to remind them of their final destination.
lol Scottish summer but still wearing thick jackets😂 in Texas we are practically swimming the moment we open the door
It was actually pretty warm! Stayed up there till past midnight and it felt fine. I'm Scottish though so I might be used to it lol.
I’m pretty sure there’s pagan images on Rosslyn Chapel that survived .
Imagine having to take off the body paint after such a night of festivities 😅
Depends what you use. I have that fluorescent paint and that rinses off with water. You barely even need any soap or scrubbing.
On the other hand, the gold and silver body paint require some work.
My partner back in the mid 90s went full blue mode one year, we were finding bits of blue rubbing off on things for weeks !!
It's called a shower.
@@VitaKet Some products take a good scrubbing to get off, and I can imagine the annoyance of trying to do so when you're ready to zzz
There is an art to it, in applying and removing and it is one that is very quickly learnt.. 😆🤣
See the movie Kantara to see the festival in one art of India. It is also connecting with nature.
❤
The "May Queen" was referenced in Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven
May Queens are not so uncommon in the UK.
So a Scottish burning man basically, got it
Is it possible for Scotland to adopt me? This looks lit
Where is John Knox and Boniface to cut down old Donar's Oak when you need them?
Why did I read the title as, "we WANT Scotlands pagan festival" lol
Bealtine - Baal tine - fire of Ba'al - don't look up what this celebration was really about with the ancient Phoenicians
Bel is a celtic god, it has no connection to a religion on the other side of the world...
@@oremstale8558 the ancient phonecians set up Carthage and moved along the Mediterranean up to the British isles.. genetics show Mediterranean in the British isles going back thousands of years
@taxusbaccata6332 no, middle eastern peoples moved to europe way before phoenicians were a culture. not sure what evidence you have that beltane is in anyway related to baal, whose followers were demonised anyway to make yahweh seem like the best god to follow
Where's bobby fingers?
you sure this isn't from a witcher 3 quest?
Ooh finally some sensible “gods” I can try* to believe in
Caveman 😂
This looks chaotic out there, but it's absolutely incredibly beautiful when diving into the different cultures and seeing what they're like. Happy (belated), Beltane, and early Litha, everyone!🎉
So is this the Scottish burning man?
Similarily its Otherworld in Victoria bc
I expected Scottish accents coming from these people😅
They’re there. They were just sprinkled in there with every one-in-twenty words.
But maybe it’s just me trying to learn Scottish Gaelic atm.
Never seen so many non Scot’s leading a Scottish festival.
Am from scotland. There were 0 scottish folk in this video i noticed.
The github beanie goes hard
Im a mechanical engineers i dont know shit about code but i know the importance of github to coders
This is the first time I'm not late in comment
GBS Nice
🔥🏴🔥
We always look out for your comment 😄
Thank you 😊
Wot..I loved about these Festivals was that they were ever changing...Man in particular never likes to change, for he lives in fear of wot changes may bring.😊. Because of olde, maybe around King Alfred's time and maybe around King Arthur's time. Especially in Ireland...the Rulers of the day, namely the Kings could only rule over the Nation for seven years at a time. Thereafter they were put to death, beheaded.😢. Which was inline with Nature herself. The coming of the Solstices Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. So they couldn't let the King who was the leader of the Nation live forever, as it was to be, as it wasn't inline with Nature.😢. Why must the King live forever when everything around lives and dies in short periods of time. 😱In Europe they were a little more lenient they allowed the their Rulers to rule just for nine years... But later on that wasn't too fashionable of the coming of Christianity and the likes. So they choose a beautiful maiden to be sacrifice to the God and Goddess of Nature. "Diana and other Deities...😂. This would really would work well with our present day Politicians. Hah. 🤣. There would be sooo much "Peace" Prosperity and Progress. In retrospect Adolf Hitler proclaimed that the only way for people in power and politicians to remain in power was to create"War". Where they could send your Son's and Daughters to their graves at time of war and as in compensation dish out medals to all and sundry...😢😮😢.
The Royals took the original spot cause THEY be doing those holidays but with Sex parties 😂 They wanted that energy hotspot
The difference between what we see today and what we see in those period paintings and woodcuts, is that those people were normal and all knew each other, and were neighbors and kin.
Post-Modern society today has devolved into a freak show, no matter how one may couch the terms.