It’s that time of year once more!

The days are warm and long, and the blossoms of spring have made way for the fruits of summer. The air is filled with the hum of bees, and the sounds of merrymaking in meadows and woods. A thousand stories tangle like brambles through hedgerows, through city streets, through the great wide wild. And as each tale ripens and bears fruit, Samhuinn slowly approaches – with the promise of a good ending, and a new beginning. 

We would like to invite prospective Group Organisers to put forward their group and project proposals for the upcoming Samhuinn Fire Festival (31st October). The application deadline is Wednesday 16th August at 11:59pm.

Samhuinn is a time of looking back – of celebrating and taking stock of all that the summer has brought, cherishing the last wild revelry of the bountiful autumn. It is also a time of looking forward – of making preparations for a long, dark, cold, beautiful winter, where the firelight and starlight gleam together upon the ice and snow. It’s a time of letting go, and of holding tight. At the heart of our Samhuinn story are the Cailleach, the Summer King, and the Winter King, 

Come and call your community around you to dance, to drum, to cavort, to mark the changing of the seasons with levity or solemnity, with whimsy or stoicism. Some groups celebrate life, others death and renewal – some mark endings and others mark fresh beginnings.

[Copyright Nate Kelso for Beltane Fire Society. All rights reserved.]

We also call on those groups who allow our great celebration to happen, such as our Torchies and Stewards who keep our way safe, our Tech crew who build our magic, and our Photographers who capture memories of all our beautiful work.

Samhuinn is a more fluid festival than Beltane, which gives more creative freedom and also requires more flexibility from groups. No group is set in stone and none of them happen without you, our volunteers, old or new. While we love a good tradition, each group is a fresh imagining each festival, based on the space we have available, the proposals we receive, and the input of the Group Organisers and volunteers who go on to form those groups. 

If you might be interested in leading a group of volunteers in a creative, cooperative, community endeavour, we would love to hear from you (and a friend; we like our Group Organisers to work in pairs at least). 

To apply, you’ll need to read the application guidance here, and email a completed copy of the application form here to goapplications@beltane.org by 11:59pm on Wednesday 16th August 2023.

If you’d like more information, come to our Pre-GO Meeting! This year, the Pre-GO meeting will be from 13:00 – 17:00, in The Kilderkin, 67 Canongate, on Saturday 29th July. 

You can also email any questions you have about GOing and the application process to the addresses given on the application form.

Samhuinn Fire Festival will take place in Edinburgh on October 31st. Tickets for the festival are not yet on sale, but keep an eye on our website and social media pages for updates.