Samhuinn

I'm a few days behind, but I thought I'd do just a brief Instagram/phone photo roundup of my Halloween... most notably my makeup and the Beltane Fire Society's Samhuinn on the Royal Mile. The link takes you to their blog with a ton of photographs and some videos of the event, which are far, far superior to anything that I was able to get in the crowd--with my phone. ;)

It was a really exciting evening, the Celtic New Year, where summer gives over to winter. Also known as Halloween. :) Mainly, two groups representing summer and winter (I was on winter's side), stood at opposite ends of a portion of the Royal Mile, and with lots of drumming, torch-bearing, and some serious swagger, they advanced toward one another and then battled it out in the street, in front of St. Giles High Kirk. Winter inevitably won and then the groups continued to dance and partake in performative rituals on a stage with fire-throwing and more drumming and... it went on and on. But it was a true spectacle, and the crowd was huge. I'm glad I went to see it. Dressed like this:

 

 I fit right in! ;)

 

 And a few quick snaps to give you the idea of how elaborate some of the costuming was:



After the Samhuinn festival, I went to a Twin Peaks themed party at the Edinburgh College of Art's student bar, called The Wee Red Bar... they had it decked out just like the Black Lodge. A fitting end to a surreal kind of evening!

Cheers!
Kate x

 P.S. And happy November! It's starting to really feel like fall here in Edinburgh... with some occasional wintry wind.