Will the Climate Crisis see this Ancient Tradition go up in Flames?
Penny Hodgson
(Image Credit: Penny Hodgson)
Last week, over 9,000 people witnessed Edinburgh’s Calton Hill light up in flames as part of a Celtic tradition.
Annually, the night before May 1st, the Beltane Fire Festival takes place in the Capital to celebrate the changing of seasons. Beltane is an ancient tradition, where rituals and bonfires are believed to protect livestock and crops throughout the summer months.
The festival, which signals the end of the dark months, follows many characters on their spiritual journey. Each year, a procession led by the May Queen and the Green Man, sees them interlink with these characters who each tell a different story.
(Video Credit: Penny Hodgson)
With over 300 volunteers and performers, several stories are visited by various groups throughout the celebration. However, this year one theme in particular took prominence – the climate crisis.
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As spectators watched the flames dance to the relaxing rhythm of the samba drums, it was impossible to ignore the ash and smoke that filled the nights sky.
(Video Credit: Penny Hodgson)
Blether Magazine spoke to Brad from Edinburgh’s Beltane Fire Society – the charity who run the event. He discussed the environmental impacts caused and experienced by the festival:
Has the Beltane Fire Society (BFS) identified any environmental impacts the fire festival may cause?
“As the climate crisis has taken greater urgency, Beltane Fire Society has recognised that our activities will have an impact upon our natural world. [In 2019], our Chair attended the Green Arts Conference to start speaking to other arts organisations in Scotland [about] ways we can look at measuring and reducing our carbon impact.”
What is BFS doing in order to combat these environmental effects?
“As it is hard to switch our fire festival to not lean on certain activities that will have an impact, we have been trying to make gains where we can. One choice we made was to switch for British Gas to Ecotricity back in 2019 so that we could have our offices supplied by 100% renewable energy.
In September 2020, BFS was granted £500 from the Climate Challenge Fund, [which is] part of Keep Scotland Beautiful, to explore how we can improve BFS in terms of sustainability which allowed us to hold two community discussions around the issues of being more sustainable…as well as helping the Board experiment with more eco-friendly materials to see if they would be effective.
Before the pandemic, the Board made a commitment to donate to various green causes and organisations to help offset our carbon footprint as an organisation. We have managed to donate £1,345 to 9 different organisations [including Trees For Life, Friend of the Eart Scotland and the John Muir Trust], which has even resulted in the planting of a Beltane Grove of 43 trees in the Highlands.
Unfortunately, this had to be paused while recovering and coming out of the pandemic, as we were meeting higher costs to holding our festivals and so this is still paused for now.”
Can you tell us more about how BFS incorporated themes of sustainability into this year’s festival?
“As the festivals are shaped by our volunteers, it depends on what themes each group wishes to touch on as part of their performance. Two key aspects for this festival however was that our May Queen’s story was focused on bringing natural cycles back into the right rhythm as the climate crisis is creating a discordance in the natural world.
We are noticing the effects the crisis is having on the Scottish climate and how we are now being subjected to much more extreme weather events, and that natural cycles are going out of synch, where flowers bloom earlier or later which has a knock on effect to those animals linked to them.
And, the Green Man had focused his story on being in touch with the Fungi Kingdom and seeking to bring joy to people as a way to combat the dread that the collapse of the climate creates in people.”
Have environmental concerns changed the way BFS runs the festival at all?
“Although we have not changed how our festivals are run at the moment, we are conscious that this is something to be looked into as time moves on. It is becoming more central to several key figures/groups in the society, and so is becoming a bigger focal point for the overall festival narrative, even if it hasn’t drastically changed how things operate yet.”
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Although the team have not yet altered the celebrations unsustainable activities, they have taken steps to highlight the climate crisis throughout the festival. This years May Queen, Alixandra Prybla, said: “It is my hope that people will leave the Hill feeling empowered, engaged, and ready to combat an issue that deprives us of our natural heritage: our connection to the Earth and its cycles.”
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To find out more about Beltane, as well as the organisation behind the Edinburgh-based festival, please click here.