Celebrating the age old pagan Beltane festival replete with fire and lashings of body paint, Calton hills in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, cutlassed the winter shiver to welcome the warmth of summers ! It was one of the most spectacular events that I have witnessed in this sleepy little city (not that sleepy as one gets to know it ;))
Benefitting from my short height, I did happen to make it in the front row and could catch the frolic from close quarters. Got to catch a glimpse of the very majestic May Queen and the men painted in red, it was a totally outlandish feeling! I also joined the semi clad men and women dancing around the bonfire swaying to their transcendental chants.
As an Indian we have a plethora of festivals, some of which are a wee bizarre, but great fun! We gleefully douse each other in coloured water and get painted to incognizance! We also have the festival of lights where we burn crackers, the sky is adorned with colourful fireworks and the aura gets pleasantly deafening.Yes I'm talking about Holi and Deepawali. This Fire Festival to me was a handshake of the two Indian festivals -people with painted bodies worshipping fire :) I was completely at ease!
Have fun watching the snaps sneaking out of my camera lenses :)
http://kluelessshicks-muse.blogspot.com/2011/05/beltane-fire-festival-11.html
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