Those of you who have been attending our Winter festival for a while will remember it as a procession that moved through the streets of Edinburgh, but things are a little different now. Because our festival has grown in popularity – drawing thousands from Edinburgh and across the world to see it – in 2018 we moved to our spiritual home on Calton Hill, where Samhuinn’s sister event Beltane Fire Festival was first founded.
Samhuinn Fire Festival’s new venue means that we are a little more experimental with its format, and so far no two festivals have looked the same. In its first year on Calton Hill, Winter and Summer’s opposing forces appeared as two processions that made their way towards an epic clash in the centre of the festival. Our Winter goddess, the Cailleach, led a third procession the following year, with the three groups meeting on a stage that overlooked the back of the Acropolis.
Like Beltane, Samhuinn Fire Festival is now an immersive event where you can get up close to the action and mingle with some of the characters. Because of the multiple processions, our witnesses can also affiliate themselves with Winter, Summer, the Cailleach, or all three, and choose their own path throughout the night.
