What a wonderful Beltane weekend! Sunday didn’t see the best of weather in Glastonbury, it rained for much of the day which rather put the dampener on the Dragon procession and events in the Abbey grounds. May Day morning wasn’t looking that promising either, but then the sun decided to shine on us just in time for the May Day festivities in the High Street and on Bushy Combe. The town saw an even bigger crowd than in previous years, my ‘back of a fag packet’ estimate is 5,000 people attended, the Market Cross and High Street were full to bursting and the atmosphere was electric.
Order & Chaos
There’s a fine balance to be maintained between order and chaos in event management, there has to be enough order to contain the chaos. Otherwise, no one knows where they are supposed to be or what they are supposed to be doing, and confusion fills the gap where there should be fun and spontaneity. As ever in Glastonbury, things veered wildly towards the chaotic end of the spectrum. The Green Men changed the route down to the Market Cross with the May Pole and that wasn’t communicated to the Horde, so Ceilidh ended up having to process up and down the High Street on her very, very high stilts. Meanwhile, there was quite a bit of waiting around for the crowd, wondering what was going to happen next, but the sunshine and the crowd’s good nature and patience saved the day. As we waited old friends were reacquainted and new friends were made and there was plenty to look at and admire with everyone dressed in their Beltane finery. it’s not just a spectacle, everyone is part of the performance.
Here are my photos of the events on the High Street, click the images to see a larger version.
Much Merriment on Bushy Combe
Once the Horde, the Green Men with the Maypole, the Dragon, the Unity Candle, the Druids, the Priestesses, the Drummers, the Dancers, rather a lot of dogs, and all the other ragtag assembly had managed to get themselves into something approximating order, the procession set off from the Market Cross. It wound its noisy, colourful, dancing way, up the High Street, along Lambrook Street and Chilkwell Street, to the White Spring and along Bulwarks Lane, to finally arrive at the top of Bushy Combe. There the revelry continued, don’t ask me about the ceremony as I was on the outskirts and could neither see nor hear a thing, but at some point someone very persuasive and very clever got everyone close to the circle to sit down which improved things considerably. The Maypole went up, there was lots of cheering, the ribbon dance began, and then the Maypole started listing rather alarmingly and had to be steadied. All was well in the end, much mead was consumed, much smiling and hugging happened.
In short, it was a day of fun, colour, spectacle, surreality, community and celebration, and now the Summer begins!
These are my photos of the events on Bushy Combe, click the images to see a larger version.
All photos and video copyright Vicki Steward of Normal For Glastonbury. No one paid me to put this post together, so please feel free to Support Me to carry on doing more of this sort of thing!
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