On special nights, when the veil between our world and the next is thin, all kinds of visitors will emerge…

We, The Unsæli, the Dark Court, will be coming to play on Calton Hill at Beltane Fire Festival. We bring drums and we will be playing them as loud as we can for this otherworldly shindig. For one night only, this land and its folk are ours to enchant, trick, and play with, as much as our fae hearts desire.

In old folklore, the Unsæli are dark court of the faeries – the tricksters, the others, the shape-shifters.  From Kelpies to redcaps, the ghillie dhu to the dryads, we are in the air, the earth, the water, the fire, and the forests.

We are always here, we have always been here, and when the boundaries between our world and yours are blurred, you’ll see us. We’ll be the ones partying like there’s no end, the ones who know what has been before, the ones who know all the tricks, the pranks, the music. You’ll see and hear us drumming in the run up to Beltane, but on the night itself, we have so much more in store for you. We have an insane set of pounding rhythms, but that’s not all – with a crew of old hands (and a few talented new ones) we have a variety of skills that have given us a whole bag of tricks to play on audience and performers alike.

None of our pranks come from a place of malice, nor alignment with Winter or Summer –  they are more just to amuse ourselves, and to see what would happen.

No one is in danger, but no one is safe.

Tickets for Beltane Fire Festival are available to buy online from Citizen Ticket. Join the Facebook event here.

Featured image by Ken Dunton for Beltane Fire Society. All rights reserved.