Uisneach Bealtaine Celebration

The Bealtaine Fire at Uisneach will be lit this year on Sunday next, May 5, and the festival takes place from 5pm to 11.30pm.

The annual event will focus on the lighting of the Bealtaine fire and will have a strictly limited capacity.

“We’re really looking forward to this year’s event," said David Clarke, owner of the farm at Uisneach.

"It’s such a great way to kick off the summer. We have a great team of volunteers from the local community and further afield who pull together to make this a very special evening.”

Marty Mulligan, organiser and music programmer, promises a great evening of music, story-telling, poetry and traditional craft displays.

”Following on from the success of last year we’ll also have our yoga and holistic areas with lots of workshops for adults and children. We’ve a few great surprises this year also."

Uisneach has in the last few years been running public guided tours and has become an exciting new tourism offering on the Ireland's Ancient East heritage trail.

A small visitor centre is also open and guided tours are held every Wednesday to Sunday at 1pm from May till September.

Historically, the beginning of the summer season started with the fire celebration at Bealtaine.

Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year.

These fires were accompanied with rituals to protect the people from any harm by other-worldly spirits!

The hill of Uisneach has numerous surviving monuments, forts, cairns and relics dating back as far the neolithic period.

Uisneach is one of six royal sites currently in contention for UNESCO World Heritage status. It is part of a large working farm owned by David and Angela Clarke who are at the forefront of opening it up to the wider community.

Tickets to this years event are available from www.uisneach.ie and are priced at €20 per adult with accompanied children free.