As will be clear from the flurry of activity, we’re ready to come out of hibernation and get that Wheel of the Year turning towards Beltane once more.

What better way to get everyone’s creative juices flowing than to announce our annual search for this year’s Beltane Poster?  Over the years there has been an array of beautiful visions of Beltane that have then been printed and distributed around the city and beyond to showcase our event.

So if you would like to submit a piece of artwork, be it a painting, illustration, design, photograph or something truly unique, let us know.

Please send submissions in .jpeg, .pdf or similar format to Zander at sacredhart@gmail.com [1] by 5th February 2012.  

Any questions?  Just ask!

*Beltane Fire Society* is a charity registered in Scotland, Charity Number: SC040137 Company Number SC341753

Registered address is Art’s Complex, St. Margaret’s House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh, EH7 6AE

www.beltane.org

Links:

It is that time of year again and 25th Anniversary Beltane Fire Festival 2012 organisation has already begun. Would you like to be a part of it too as a Group Organiser?

We are now taking applications for Group Organisers for any one of the many groups that create Beltane 2011. Between yourself and your group of volunteers you will create your own piece of the magic that is the Beltane festival & community.

This role will see you involved in everything from recruitment, artistic direction, time & budget management, plus inspiring, supporting & facilitating your group. From my own experience I can highly recommend it

If this prospect excites & inspires you then please get in touch.

Please email your completed application form to ‘scribe@beltane.org’ *no later than SUNDAY 5TH FEBRUARY*

Please email ‘scribe@beltane.org’ for the application form, with an example form & guidance to assist in completion also available. Please also email if you have any questions or would like any feedback.

You will need to be available initially for the following dates: – Group Organisers’ Weekend – 11&12th February – Beltane 2011 Open Meeting – Sunday 26th February

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Beltane Fire Society Board

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So you’re thinking of being a Group Organiser?

On Sunday the 15th of January at 4pm in the Holyrood 9a, the Blues will be gathering to have an informal chat with anyone who is contemplating being a GO for this year’s Beltane. We’ll be talking about anything and everything – from filling in the application form, specifics of running groups, 25th anniversary celebrations, to aspects of story, ritual and performance skills.

Whether you’re an old-hand GO, who just wants to get back into the swing of things, or someone who’s completely new to Group Organising, but has always fancied a go, do come along with any questions you might have.

And don’t worry – coming along isn’t any kind of commitment to being a GO… though we can’t guarantee we won’t convince you to take the plunge!

Hope to see you there!

The Blues

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The time has come once again, although it may seem early in the year, for us to begin the search for the Green Man to take part in Beltane Fire Festival 2012.

This email is therefore an invitation to those who feel this role is for them, to step forward and note their interest for the role.

But what is role, you may ask?

We cannot completely define this for you. Each Green Man has their own journey, their own story to lay down. But we can give you some ideas for the purposes of context.

Our Beltane celebrates the turning of the wheel of the year, from spring into the beginning of summer. We celebrate this one step of the cycle with our festivities. Our festivities change from year to year, but as an element of ritual some things stay the same.

One of these unchanging points is the presence of the Green Man. For our festival the Green Man is the embodiment of the earth, the personification of the world around us. People’s lives have always depended upon the condition of the earth; upon how we treat it and upon the way it behaves.

Intrinsic to how we behave upon the earth are the cycles, the seasons which change throughout the year. Our Green Man on Beltane night demonstrates for us one of the changes within this year of changes.

The Green Man character is common the world over, present in many different cultures. As global location changes so does the personality and traits of the Green Man of that locality. But always there is this link between humankind and the earth we live upon.

The main purpose of the Green Man is observed by all at the Festival, and is shown through a ‘death/rebirth’ or ‘sacrifice/resurrection’ ritual at the end of the procession. This ‘death/rebirth’ ritual is also common to the Green Man character. This is representative of the old giving way to the new, of a leading figure giving up something for the continuity of the community. It is a very powerful depiction of not only seasonal change but also of a spiritual belief.

Therefore this role is intrinsically important to our Festival as it represents the change, the potential, and the future.

That is just a snippet of information about the Green Man, and we encourage you seek out information if this topic interests you.

The role of Green Man is both solitary and social, and it is as much of either as you wish it to be. However, we ask two things of you:

1) The Green Man is expected to be involved in actively preparing the main storyline along with the May Queen. This assists the whole society vision and also the understanding of the Green Man’s journey.

2) A Green Man applicant should consider their entire journey and should be prepared to share their character vision with the society and also to share their preparation plans with the Blues and producer.

All Applicants MUST be available for interview on the evening of TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY.

If you are considering this role but are swithering we suggest that you contact blues@beltane.orgfor a chat about the role. As always, email us if you have any questions.

Notes of interest should be made formally to us via email to blues@beltane.org by 6pm on SUNDAY 29th JANUARY. We’ll acknowledge receipt of your application.

Applicants are all individually interviewed and are selected following careful consideration. Should there be a multitude of applications we may not be able to interview all applicants.

Thanks The Blues.

As we take a well deserved rest from another fantastic festival (one which even the weather came along to play at!) our thoughts begin to turn towards our next festivals and the coming year.

Next year will be our 25th Beltane Fire Festival, marking a quarter of a century of development and change of both the Society and the Festival – from small, but significant beginnings, to one of the largest fire performances in the world.

BFS has come a long way in those 25 years – we are now a charity with the recognition that affords, have become more financially stable, and have a good working relationship with the council and other local groups - while still maintaining our core principles, and remaining composed entirely of volunteers.

So what do we do now?

Traditionally we have a meeting every year – ‘The Big Blether’, in which we discuss our plans for the next festival. This year, we want to do something slightly different – and discuss our plans for the future of Beltane Fire Society as a whole.

Since taking over as Chair I’ve heard lots of discussions on a wide variety of topics. What direction should we be heading in? How should we interact with other community groups in Edinburgh, Scotland and around the world? Are our festivals perfect the way they are, or is there something missing, or something that needs changing? We are now a charity – and have charitable aims – are we achieving them? Should we maintain our focus on Beltane and Samhuinn, or should balance our efforts across the year? Are people still getting more out than they put in? Are we reaching our audience and the community with our work? Should we wind it all up, call it a day, and move on to something completely different?

There won’t be a formal agenda, but we’ll be looking at questions under broad categories:

• Achieving our Charitable Aims – Education about the festivals, Community Outreach, etc.
• Volunteer involvement and society ‘structure’
• Our festivals – traditions, performances, rituals, directions and aims.
• Plans for the 25th year of BFS and our 25th Beltane

Of course – discussion will centre around the areas you feel are most significant!

As a bonus, we now have the preliminary findings of the Queen Margaret University Audience survey from Beltane 2011 which will be presented and discussed – they make very interesting reading!

So the important bit – when and where:

Sunday 13th November – 3pm, St Margaret’s House (room to be confirmed)

Please do try and make a space in your diaries for this very important discussion. Please also forward on this message to anyone else you think might not have received it.

If you can’t make it, but have some thoughts on any of the broad areas listed above, then feel free to email me your thoughts, and I’ll add them at the meeting.

Hope to see you all there!

There’ll be more groups added soon but here are a few more of the reds to roaaaaarrrr up your day!

To whet your appetite here is the official poster…

Best thing of all… it’s free!

We are pleased to confirm additional groups now available for you to join:

Bucketeers – Kat Kane

Photopoint – Ashish Aghi and Matt Dale

Torch Bearers – Tanya Simpson and Elisabeth Brown

As well as all those already confirmed, who are all looking for you to join them in celebrating Samhuinn:

Summer/Winter Puppets – Helen Bradburn and Ross Flemington

Red – Blue Hesse and James Armandary

Samhuinn White – Dani Jakwerth and Matt Jebb

Winter Drummers – Lindsay Hunter and Emily Hodson

Beasties – Gavin Kennerley and Tom Caine

Cailleach – Laura Jeacock

Summer King – Zander Bruce

Winter King – Ross Atkinson

Blues – Erin Chadwick, Kathryn Herschell, Andy Meechan and Matt Richardson

Along with our Event Producer for this year, Rob Sproul-Cran.

We look forward to seeing you there

Board, Blues, Group Organisers and Producer

***Beltane Fire Society***

www.beltane.org

Art’s Complex, St. Margaret’s House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh, EH7 6AE

0131 661 5666

Charity Number: SC040137 Company Number: SC341753

Cailleach – Laura Jeacock
Summer King – Zander Bruce
Winter King – Ross Atkinson

Blues – Erin Chadwick, Kathryn Herschell, Andy Meechan and Matt Richardson

Summer/Winter Puppets – Helen Bradburn and Ross Flemington
Red – Blue Hesse and James Armandary
Samhuinn White – Dani Jakwerth and Matt Jebb
Winter Drummers – Lindsay Hunter and Emily Hodson
Beasties – Gavin Kennerley and Tom Caine

We also received one other group application before the deadline, which is still in discussion.

If you are interested in organising Stewards, Torchbearers, Photopoint or Bucketeers, please let us know.

The Samhuinn 2011 Open Meeting will be at 4pm on Sunday 11th September 2011 – East Wing, Ground Floor, Art’s Complex, St. Margaret’s House, 151 London Road. We look forward to seeing you there

Board and Blues