It’s Beltain! The ancient Celtic festival celebrated at the beginning of summer, and possibly even the origins of May Day. We celebrated this wonderful festival with an afternoon and evening of music, mead, merriment, and of course, the burning of our 30ft wickerman. Here’s to good company and sunny days!

This year’s wickerman was actually a wickerbeast, following the design of a phoenix to symbolise rebirth through fire — the same way our wickermen themselves live, die, and are reborn again each Beltain.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this wonderful event! To everyone who made it out, to all our visitors and volunteers and supporters here, thank you for making things like this possible.

Stay tuned here for some of our favourite pictures from the event!

Relive the magic!

Watch the full commemorative video on Butser Plus for as little as £2.99!

Photos from Beltain Celtic Fire Festival 2023

With all our thanks

We are a small team from a small museum, and Beltain is an incredibly ambitious event for us to hold each year — one only made possible by an incredible number of wonderful people working very hard.

To all our staff and volunteers, thank you for your tireless work in preparing for and running this event! To the Friends of Butser Ancient Farm for your wonderful support, thank you.

To the Saxons of Herigeas Hundas, the Romans of Butser IX Legion, the ancient musicians of Here Be Flagons, to all the other reenactors and living history practitioners who helped bring our ancient farm to life, and to everyone who turned up in costume — thank you.

To the brilliant musical trio Polly Gone Wrong and the lovely band Tiger Moth, to the iconic Feckless who always gets us up and dancing, to the endlessly energetic Pentacle Drummers, and to the classic Ukes of Hazard, thank you for your wonderful performances.

To Jen Atkinson, Jo Dunbar, and Adrian Rooke, thank you for your wonderful talks on herbs, healing, elves, and the origins of Beltain. To Flying Iron, Steamship Circus, Ostara the Bubble Fairy, Mary Rose Royal George, Jez Smith, the Shanti Sisters, and Eva Greenslade, thank you for your work offering unique and incredible performances and experiences, from handfasting to axe throwing to archaeoacoustics.

To Neil Burridge, Joe the Smithy, Craig the Saxon Forager, Caroline and Tom of Pario Gallico, Fergus Milton, Jim Clift, and everyone from the Ancient Wessex Network, thank you for your wonderful demonstrations of ancient crafts and metalworking.

To Andrew Shorter, Jonathon Huet, Dawn Nelson, and Jason Buck, thank you for bringing such magic with your wonderful stories.

To Artscape, Granary Creative Arts Centre and HantsAstro for your interesting and interactive stalls, thank you. To Chalice Mead, Three Copse, the Whitelands Project, Langham Brewery, Bowman Ales, Mr Whiteheads, and Blackmoor Estate, thank you for supplying us — whether that’s with mead, local greenery, or our very own unique Beltain Cider!

To craftsfolk and traders the Wood Beyond the World, Pixie Made, Old Ways Candles, the Special Branch, Kevan Dyne, Minerva Crafts, Wesnet Services, Pipers Honey, Hare and Tabor, Finn’s Fire and Woodcarving, Woody Wonders Twig Pencils, Gina McAdam, Amongst the Gorse, Fantastical Kingdoms, Woolleymamma Leather, Willow and Crafts, and Gwen’s Garden — thank you!

To Crepe Britain, Matt with the hog roast, the Mobile Coffee Box, Earth’s Kitchen, and Sharon and Wendy of the Butser Bakes stand, thank you for all your work to feed everyone!

To Eleanor Sopwith, Alan Ridgley, Andrew Hayward, and Stanners Stanton, thank you for allowing us to use your stunning photos.

To friends unnamed but not forgotten, thank you.

And finally, to our supporters on Butser Plus, to our visitors, and to you 💚