Blog Post - The Beltane Fire Festival
What was Waytostay?
Waytostay was an apartment booking site which provided short-stay apartment rentals across Europe. At its peak the company had around ninety full-time employees and a significant share of the short-stay market. Sadly, if you visit the Waytostay domain today you'll find only a ghost-website. The tsunami-like expansion of Airbnb meant that Waytostay became marginalised and the company was sold in 2014.
I worked as a full-time English copywriter in the six-language content team. Since English was the company's "lead language", web copy was often composed and approved in English before being translated to other languages (French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian).
During my time at Waytostay an entirely new website was built from scratch (2011). Writing fresh copy for thousands of apartments was just the start. Everything from Customer Service Email Templates and FAQs to City Neighbourhood Descriptions and Landing Page Headers was required. Whatever writing project we undertook, our mission was to write always in accordance with the style guide for “Waytostay 2.0”.
City Scenes and Coffee Beans
Waytostay was strongly committed to developing its brand through client interaction and its social media presence. The company had around 20,000 likes/ followers on Facebook and employed a full-time social media manager. The Waytostay online community was named City Scenes and Coffee Beans, a title that I came up with myself during a brain-storming session.
City Scenes and Coffee Beans aimed to reinforce our brand identity - namely, to provide clients with the type of immersive cultural experience that only locals normally enjoyed. With this objective in mind, my colleagues and I were required to write "destination experience" posts for CS&CB, showcasing various lesser-known cultural aspects of our destination cities. The following is one such post where I wrote about the relatively obscure, yet alluring, Beltane Fire Festival which takes place annually in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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The Beltane Fire Festival
A rabble of semi-naked people dancing around bonfires on the top of a hill? In the words
of Paul Weller - that’s entertainment!
Well, at least it is in Scotland.
The Beltane Festival has become something of a feature on the capital calendar. Celebrated annually since 1988, the event purports to be a reincarnation of the traditional Celtic-Gaelic ceremonies which took place in Scotland in pre-Christian
times. In days of yore, communities would extinguish all the fires in their village homes, before relighting them from a ceremonial flame called the “Need Flame”. Fertility rights were performed, as well as other
rituals said to bring good fortune.
So what of the the 21st century version? Does it similarly ward off evil spirits and bring assurances of a good summer
harvest? Well, those who take part will tell you that the ceremony rekindles the ancient spiritual connection between humankind and the rhythms of Mother Nature (at very least it gives participants the chance to dress up in
wild costumes, behave outrageously and set fire to things!) With the dramatic backdrop of the National Monument, it’s certainly quite a sight.
Wielding flaming torches, an ensemble cast of crazed, allegorical figures dance, chant, beat drums and leap around, all in various guises (or states of undress). There are groups representing the four elements - air, earth, water and fire - while other protagonists in the chaotic choreography include the Green Man (who dies and is reborn), the May Queen (representing the energy of life) and the Red Men (impish troublemakers who personify chaos).
Based on my own Beltane experiences - looking on, wide-eyed like Tam o’ Shanter - following the “story” of the ritualistic proceedings is about as straightforward
as interpreting the average David Lynch movie; it’s never totally clear how the plot is unfolding or where the centre of the action is. However, when things get going, the entire hilltop is covered in swirling flames,
beating drums and wild, gurning faces. The fact that you never quite know what’s going on only serves to raise the level of excitement.
You’ll find yourself gravitating, moth-like, towards the raging
bonfire on your left, but simultaneously craving to witness the torch-lit procession on your right. Spin around and you may even find yourself staring into the animalistic features of a fire-wielding creature of the underworld
-, eyes black, teeth shining, limbs flailing in orgasmic trance - but before you’ve had time to capture the beast with a stellar flash from your iPhone, he’ll have danced off again into the night.
Whilst enjoying the spectacle, it probably won’t escape your attention that there’s an inherent irony in celebrating the “beginning of Summer” whilst a biting wind is chilling you to the bone (the end of April is a rarely summery at these latitudes). One has to carry a little sympathy for the protagonists who brave the elements with little more than their dignity covered (and occasionally not even that). Certainly it’s no wonder that fire and dance have such a prominent parts to play in the Beltane - it’s only way to keep warm!
Despite the undeniably eccentric nature of the Fire Festival, I would urge any Beltane virgin to
go and experience it (I promise you won’t be sacrificed!). Some may be cynical about the celebration and deem it a bunch of hippy nonsense. Ask a local in an Edinburgh tavern for his opinion and he will likely laugh
and snort a dismissive response - “aye, thae pagan hippies up oan the moontain”. But look a little closer and you might spot a Celtic tattoo on your drinking companion’s forearm. And isn’t that a Pictish
charm that’s hiding under his collar? Perhaps the respectable gent propped up against in the bar beside you will be exchanging his dreary grey suit for a goatskin cape and tub of red face paint come April 30th. After all, Edinburgh is a town of secrets, and appearances can be deceptive…
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The Beltane Festival takes place on the 30th of April on the summit of Calton Hill, Edinburgh
http://www.beltane.org/
Tickets cost £5 until the 1st of April.
