A few weeks ago I got to shoot the Annual Beltane Festival at the Center for Symbolic Studies in New Paltz for the Times Herald-Record. Now, you may be asking, what exactly is a Beltane Festival, or is this really a Beltane Festival? It definitely looks a lot tamer than the famous one that takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland every year.
Firstly, Beltane comes from an old Celtic tradition of saying goodbye to old man winter and welcoming the spring and over the years has grown into an amalgamation of varying spring traditions, one of which includes a dance around the May Pole. Secondly, the day time activities of the festival in New Paltz are family friendly, then as the dusk takes hold and night falls and the fire comes alive, it becomes a bit more bawdy, or so I was told as I could not stay to watch.
To learn more about the Annual Beltane Festival at the Center for Symbolic Studies click
HERE.
