"Festival of the Fires"

The Hill of Uisneach was ablaze with fire on Friday night, to mark the announcement of a major festival for the Hill for May 2010.'The Festival of the Fires' is to revive some of the traditions associated with Bealtaine, and the lighting of fires on prominent hills across Ireland, but is also to be a huge cultural event, featuring theatre, literature, music, poetry, holistic health, arts, traditional crafts, installations and sustainability.According to the organisers - the chief of whom is Paddy Dunning of Grouse Lodge recording studios in Rosemount - the festival will feature 'the collective talents of artists, performers, craftspeople and hundreds more participants from Ireland and beyond', and it is to culminate 'in the lighting of a great national fire'.The organisers plan that 'festival villages', sympathetic to the hillside and surrounding environment will house the 'body and soul' of the festival, and there will also be installations, craft and trade stands, exhibitions and more.It"s also promised that the event will include promotion of eco-tourism and sustainable living, and that the entire event is to be child-friendly and eco-friendly.There will, naturally, be music too, and what"s envisaged is a range of music stages which are, the organisers say, to feature both established and emerging artists, with music to suit all ages and tastes, 'from orchestral, classical and traditional to rock, pop and folk'.'Unique collaborations between international and Irish artists will be encouraged and major international and Irish acts will be playing stripped-down, intimate and exclusive shows,' they continue.The full line-up is to be announced shortly on the festival website - www.festivalofthefires.com.Friday night saw approximately 400 people on the hill for the announcement of the festival. The invitees were led up by historians who outlined Uisneach"s long and important history; and there were foods and beverages before darkness descended, and a display by fire dancers began.A huge fire was lit at the site of the royal palace on the Hill - believed to be the spot where the original great fires of Uisneach were lit, to be followed by the lighting of a major fire on the Hill of Tara. Again, echoing an ancient tradition, two bulls were led around the fires, and in the meantime, as soon as that fire blazed, other great fires were started on the Hill, at St. Patrick"s Bed and at the Catstone.On other hills around Westmeath, including Mount Dalton and Knockastia and Croghan, further fires were lit.The principal organiser, Paddy Dunning, has extensive links in the music world through his work at Grouse Lodge Studios - where Michael Jackson stayed for five months; and Paddy has also been involved in Temple Bar Music Centre/The Button Factory; the Sound Training Centre; the National Wax Museum and Temple Lane Studios.The lands on which the festival are to take place are owned by cattle breeder David Clarke, who has said that after the festival, and for the first time in recent years, the hill will be officially opened to the public for guided historic tours on selected dates.