The Tellers of Bel’s Fire would like to introduce themselves…

Stories are told eye to eye,
mind to mind,
and heart to heart.
(Scottish Travellers’ proverb)

For over 25 years, the Beltane Fire Festival has brought to life the ancient tale of the rites of Beltane through ritual and performance. In order to accomplish this, hundreds of volunteer performers, organisers and technical staff work tirelessly for over 3 months to bring the Beltane story to Calton Hill each year.

This year, the story is more than just the visual wonder of beautifully painted and costumed characters and archetypes, for this year, the Story will be told as well.

We, The Tellers of Bel’s Fire, will be ready to welcome you from the moment you arrive on Calton Hill to offer the audience (as Witnesses) the stories and tales inspired by myths and legends that form the backdrop to our Beltane performance.

We will open the veil that exists between the realms with our stories, to create a metaphorical bridge for you to traverse between this world and the fantastic and magical realm of the Beltane Ritual. We offer our stories to help enable you to gain a deeper, more informed connection and understanding of the festival and its origins in myths and legends, offering the first step on what we hope will be an amazing magical journey for you.

If you fancy hearing a story or stories, you can find the Tellers walking amongst you, wandering and visiting different locations around the hill, before and after the Procession has begun, or you can find us at two locations on the hill:

– The Tellers Tent, situated behind the National Monument, is where you can seek out the stories around the firelight,
– At the Main Stage where the Night’s main events culminates

We have been practising for many weeks, selecting stories we hope you will enjoy, and which we look forward to sharing with you. Some of these stories include various versions of the Beltane story;

– The Rowan Tree,
– Aengus and the Otherworld,
– A Beltane Story,
– Angus & the Bride

These are just a few that we have to share with you to hear.

We are very much look forward to seeing you on the Night.

Photographs by Heidi Korkala, one of the Contact Point photographers.