Playing with fire! Naked Scots celebrate Pagan festival

Playing with fire! Naked revellers brandish flaming torches as they celebrate ancient Pagan festival in Edinburgh marking the end of winter


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Thousands of spectators gathered on Calton Hill in the Scottish capital to watch drummers, fire dancers, physical theatre and a large bonfire. The event, first organised in the mid-1980s, marks the ending of winter and is a revival of the ancient Celtic and Pagan festival of Beltane, the Gaelic name for the month of May. During the event , the Green Man is killed as god of winter and reborn as spring to consort with the May Queen.