Preparations are underway on the Hill of Uisneach for its May bank holiday weekend Bealtaine Fire Festival.
With just weeks to go until the staging of the spectacular event, crews of artists and tradespeople have moved onto the hill, taking advantage of the recent fine weather to create the outdoor festival site. Arts and crafts are to the fore, with many special creations now underway.
Fire, as a symbol of re-birth and awakening, has been long associated with Uisneach and a ceremonial fire parade and a sequence of bonfires will be the centre- pieces of the day-long celebration which will also feature artisan food and crafts, holistic healing, workshops, a spoken word tent, re-enactments including the Uisneach Warriors and guided heritage walks. The family friendly theme is being further developed through a re-creation of traditional children’s Uisneach Games. Under 12s go free to the festival. Music will be provided by friends of the Hill, including the Martin O’Connor Band, Mary Coughlan and Moxie, plus very special guests. There will be two musical stages, the main one outdoors and a tented stage run by Clarkes Bar in Mullingar.
Compared to previous festivals on the hill, which attracted 5,000 festival-goers, the Uisneach Fire Festival will have a strictly limited capacity, with just 1,500 tickets on sale. In the past month, special early bird tickets, priced €25, were on sale. These have been snapped up and general tickets, priced €33, are on sale now. Due to the special heritage nature of the site, tickets are only available through www.uisneach.ie. Under 12s go free.
