It is an honour and a privilege to be selected to embody the Cailleach for Samhuinn 2024.

For those of you who don’t know know me, I first joined BFS in 2013 as a steward, and have since participated a variety of performance groups from joyful summer fairies, to the stoic and strong Whites (most recently known as Queens Hands), to filling the space with the energetic rhythm of the Beastie Drummers.

For me, the Cailleach is the Goddess of death and rebirth, endings and beginnings and the time in between the two. There, in the darkness, is where we learn and reflect on what has been and sow the seeds of potential and creativity, until the time comes to break out of the darkness. This can mean facing some hard truths, but it is necessary so we can leave behind what no longer serves us and grow our roots deep and strong in order to better weather future storms.

Through my central theme of reflection, it is my hope that we can look back on all our past experiences and come together to create a beautiful and meaningful ritual performance that celebrates our festival and our community and to have fun while we do it.

The deadline to nominate someone for our Summer and Winter King (including self-nominations) is Friday the 9th of August. Click here for more information.