Capital’s Halloween event expands and moves to Calton Hill
● New Samhuinn celebrations will include hundreds of performers
A huge Halloween celebration is to be staged on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill for the first time by the organisers of the Beltane Fire Festival.
Thousands of revellers are expected to gather on the historic landmark for a threehour event marking the transition from summer to winter with fire, dancing, drumming and dramatic performances.
Hundreds of costumed performers will depict a ritual struggle between the seasons, watched by up to 5,000 revellers, in the biggest ever show in the city to mark Samhuinn.
First staged in 1995 by the Beltane Fire Society and usually held in the Old Town, Samhuinn is Edinburgh’s biggest public Halloween event.
The growing popularity of the festival has led to the decision to relocate it to a new venue and make it ticketed, where it is expected to attract a sell-out crowd. Organisers said it will be transformed from a procession into a fully “immersive experience” featuring more than 20 different groups of performers.
It has expanded on to Calton Hill the year after the annual summer celebration of Beltane, which is held on the last night in April, marked its 30th anniversary. That show – which like Samhuinn also draws heavily on Celtic traditions – is based around the journey of the May Queen and
0 Samhuinn celebrations have previously been in the Old Town
the Green Man around the hill. Samhuinn will chart the overthrowing of summer by winter, a dramatic stand-off between the kings of each season and their courts, and the intervention of the Cailleach – a Celtic representation of a goddess – to decide their fate.
Erin Macdonald, chairwoman of organisers the Beltane Fire Society, said: “The venue has given us a great opportunity to think outside the box for how we tell the Samhuinn story – including how we make it very different to our Beltane event – and our volunteers
have been buzzing with loads of ideas already. We’ll have everything from giant puppets to battles and bonfires. It’ll certainly be a unique Halloween night experience.”
An announcement from the society, which describes Samhuinn as a “counter-balance” to the summer festivities, stated: “For the first time ever Samhuinn marks the turn of the seasons at the top of Calton Hill. That means more space, moreperformers,moredrummers and more fire.”