Moonspinners: Flower Moon (Beltane) | Edinburgh Tradfest 2026

The moon begins to form as the moon spinners wash their wool in the sea, winding it again into a white ball in the sky and re-creating the phases and cycles that guide our seasons, and our stories...Join us for our quarterly series of full-moon celebrations, with live storytelling, music, song and a rotating programme of incredible performers.

Following the Celtic Wheel of the Year (the quarterly seasons of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhuinn) we look forward to moon myths, lunar legends and cross-cultural stories, revealing themes of creation, fertility, cosmic joy, transformation, death and rebirth.~~~~~For our Beltane session we welcome you under the full Flower Moon with another exciting lineup of storytellers, this month featuring Josie Duncan and Anna Lehr, with Claire McNicol and Linda Williamson.Beltane, the first of May, when the King of the Fairies lets loose the fairies...

The Little People are shut up under the hills all winter, then for three months they can do as they please.

Fairy Folk work among flowers and among plants, helping Mother Nature, and at the end of July they are gone.

So excited when set free at the beginning of summer, they have their ceilidh and lucky is the person who happens to be in that place... a fairy hillock, or on Calton Hill with Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Society!In addition to the stellar lineup of performers, Moonspinners are delighted to be sharing the second half of their full moon Beltane event with two traditional dancers from the Chinese Arts Association, Hao Zheng and Luo Yeung, celebrating Yue Lao (the Man Under the Moon).

With dancing, storytelling and singing from East and West, Beltane with the Moonspinners will be a multicultural feast!~~~~~Moonspinners events will follow two distinct phases, with the first half of performance in the Netherbow Theatre, followed by a social and conversational flow upstairs in the Storytelling Court with a chance to digest and discuss the stories amongst friends old and new.Mark it in your diary, or just follow the moon to guide you here!