Beltane

In the drizzle of a dull Sunday afternoon a number of folk celebrated the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane at Thornborough Henge near Bedale. It is held mid Spring to welcome the coming of Summer, aka May Day. 

It was the first time I have been to such a festival or to the 5000 year old henge, 3 large circles made of raised earthworks and appear to align with the 3 stars of Orion's on the Winter Solstice. 

It attracts a number of different followers of ancient beliefs. My brother-in-law was running their family crystal stall so I popped along.

My main Blip shows some of the folk I met, The Green Man and a troop of dancers called 400 Roses who describe themselves as UK-style folk dancers with more exotic belly dance moves in their routine. 

The extra was one of the first photographs I took, two vikings walking away from the main arena. It later transpired the gent on the right shared a stall with his wife called Viking and Fairy Realm. He makes wooden viking games, shields and rune sets whilst his wife makes fairy houses and potions as seen in the collage. He also turned out to be a para-medic and had worked with my brother-in-law before he retired last year!