Beltane Fire Festival will bring the spirit of Beltane to life in a digital format for the first time in 2020.
The move to a virtual celebration has been prompted by lock down measures put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The iconic annual festival is held on April 30 each year, with the Beltane Fire Society's normally marking Beltane night on Calton Hill in Edinburgh.
It is inspired by the ancient Gaelic festival which traditionally marked the start of summer.
Moving the celebrations online, BOnFire will go ahead as it has since 1988 between 7pm and 10:30pm.
Content that highlights themes from the Celtic holiday will be seen on Beltane Fire Society’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and other online platforms.
The volunteers who would ordinarily throw Edinburgh’s world-famous fire festival have been invited to submit ideas that can tell the Beltane story online through video, art, photography, poetry, and song.
These pieces of artwork will be shared as part of a series of chapters, which each evoke a certain point in the festival’s traditional journey around Calton Hill.
A key part of every festival managed by Beltane Fire Society is highlighting the importance of community.
While the society’s volunteers and audience are unable to gather in person just now, organisers hope that this opportunity to come together to mark the ancient Celtic holiday remotely will offer some comfort and togetherness for people marking Beltane in Edinburgh and around the world.
Online attendees do not need a ticket to take part in the festival, however they do have the option to purchase a “pay what you can” ticket as a donation to the festival.
Ticket sales for Beltane Fire Festival are usually Beltane Fire Society’s main source of income, so all donations big and small will help supplement that loss.
Funds raised from BOnfire will go towards funding the society’s next in-person festival, once it is deemed safe to hold large events according to government advice.
Donations can be made on Citizen Ticket’s website, where a suggested gift of £5.50 (including booking fee) has been set.
Last year, the festival’s organisers donated £1,000 from the proceeds raised by Samhuinn Fire Festival’s ticket sales to four green charities, and they had intended to do the same again following this year’s Beltane Fire Festival.
To honour this commitment, 10% of all donations raised by BOnFire, up to a total of £1,000, will be given to environmental causes.
Beltane Fire Festival, which was due to take place on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill with an anticipated audience of 8,000, was cancelled on 17 March following Nicola Sturgeon’s advice that events comprising more than 500 people not go ahead.
This is only the second time in its 32 year history that the festival has been cancelled.
Brad Mcarthur, chair of Beltane Fire Society’s board, said: “Although it was a disappointing decision to cancel our physical Beltane Fire Festival due to the current pandemic affecting the world, it is thanks to the resilience shown by our volunteer community in wishing to still mark the changing of the seasons that we are taking this new approach to celebrating Beltane.
"We hope this approach brings our creativity and joy to people's homes all around the world who still wish to celebrate Beltane.
"Although it is not our traditional format, we feel people will still be able to get that traditional Beltane Fire Festival feeling from what we have planned for the day.”
